ACT II: Adamant's Return
Note: Once again, this work is unbeta'd, any mistakes are my own. Be prepared, this sucker is just as long as the last one. Enjoy!
I only opened my eyes when I felt my body come to a slow descent instead of a rapid crash into the ground. With a blink, I realized I was suspended just above the terrain of grey stone and floating rock. Tentatively, I reached out and touched the surface with my index finger.
"Ack!" Startled, I crashed into the dirt face-first and smashed into my shoulder. With a pained wince, I rolled onto my back and glanced up at the sky before me. It swirled with tethers of green, gold, and black, dancing to an erratic tune I couldn't hear. My Mark pulsed in time with the light around me. Firelights danced through the thick atmosphere and fog that surrounded me. Coughing, I sat up and felt the world spin as if to right itself to my personal orientation.
I nearly vomited at the spin.
"Holy… fucking shit, yo." I coughed again, leaning over my hip and bracing on my elbow to keep the world from tilting any further. It wouldn't stop, and the Mark in my hand pulsed happily, warm and bright between my fisted fingers. Son of a bitch. Shakily, I stood on my knees before trusting my feet. I glanced around in search of anything familiar, but all I found were more floating rocks, strange griffin-bird statues, and Stroud.
"Uh, Ser." I asked, watching as he paced around on a perpendicular rock that he stood upon.
"Where are we?" Stroud asked, just as confused as I was.
"We were… falling?" Hawke supplied from overhead. Surprised, I craned my neck around to find him standing on a flowing pillar of rock above me. I don't even, I don't understand. I spied Dorian not far from me. He stood on wobbly legs and held himself against a jagged piece of a boulder, bent over as if he would be sick over his feet. Blackwall was walking toward us with Bull just shaking his head clear a couple of feet away.
Hawke glanced at me, "We landed? Is this… are we dead?"
"Uh," I said intelligently.
"If this is the afterlife, the Chantry owes me an apology. This looks nothing like the Maker's bosom." Hawke complained, edging his way toward the bottom of his rock to attempt to dislodge himself and level with us on the same surface.
"Hawke," I laughed weakly, "I think we have more pressing matters."
"It seems the Inquisitor used the Mark to open another rift." Stroud explained, also following Hawke's example to change his orientation and get to ground level with me. "We fell through, I believe, and are currently in the Fade."
"The Fade looked much different the last time I was here." Hawke murmured, staring off into a swirling pit of black in the sky.
"Well, this is the first time I've entered the Fade physically," Dorian intoned, straightening his back and brushing his pants, "It looked like a lovely castle filled with gold and silks."
"Oh?" I asked, distracted as I reached out my hand to Stroud and yanked him through his reality to mine so he could step onto my piece of land.
"Oh yes," Dorian continued, reaching us and giving Stroud a second helping-hand, "I met a marvelous Desire demon, as I recall. We chatted and ate grapes before he attempted to possess me."
"You know, the stories say you walked out of the Fade at Haven." Hawke blinked at me, curiosity clear in his eyes despite our dire situation. "Was it anything like this?"
"Uh, not really." I gave Stroud one more yank with Dorian's help and managed to land the man next to me. I glanced over at Hawke, then around at our surrounding area of green and gold fog, "I barely remember what it was like, walking out."
"That huge demon was right on the other side of that rift Erimond and Clarel were using, and there could be others." Hawke reminded me. My attention turned to my Mark and I curled and stretched my fingers. I had felt it, the demonic force that had punched my gut and attempted to rip my brain into pieces.
"We can't assume we're safe here." I murmured, dropping my hand.
"Oh, this is shitty." Bull growled, his presence appearing on my right side, his aura thick and angry, spinning like a stumbling top, nearly smothering my mind with his anxiousness. Confused, I turned to him and reached out, placing my hand on his forearm.
"Hey, we got this, man." I reassured him firmly. The effect was immediate, as his energy slowed to a muted hum and he exhaled sharply over my head.
"I'll fight whatever you give me, Boss, but nobody said nothing about getting dragged through the ass-end of demon town." He snarled quietly at me, his one green eye burning with a suppressed rage. The Mark pulsed gently, but none of the rage he felt was directed at me. I had nothing to say to that and instead defaulted to a gentle squeeze on his arm before letting go.
"In our world, the rift the demons came through was nearby." Stroud studied the sky ahead of us, a frown on his face. "It was anchored in the main hall. Can we escape the same way?" I inhaled deeply, considering his question. It had been on a desperate whim of wanting to avoid sudden death that compelled me to rip open a rift, but there was no guarantee that I could reopen the same rift, in the same place.
"I don't know," I finally answered, feeling Bull go tense next to me, "When I open a rift, I usually open it from the other side, but the orientation here is clearly different, and I don't feel any weak points."
"I suppose we should look for some, then." Hawke reached for Blackwall's outstretched hand and pulled to pop himself off his rock and crash to the ground with a clumsy tangle of his legs and arms. With a shake, he dusted himself off with a sigh, thanking Blackwall quietly.
"My visits to the Fade are normally more pleasant," Dorian joked lightly into the tension around us, "I don't usually wake up feeling the need to bathe."
"Hey, Chief, let's join the Inquisition!" Bull muttered, his accent colored to match Krem's, stepping up with us as we picked a direction and marched, "Good fights for a good cause! I don't know, Krem, I hear there are demons. Ah, don't worry about the demons, Chief! I'm sure we won't see many! Asshole."
I hid my snort behind a cough into my fist.
"Hey," Bull's voice cut through the crowd sharply, "Everyone, if I get possessed, feint on my blind side, then go low. Cullen says I leave myself open."
"I'll bear that in mind," Blackwall muttered darkly, his gaze calculating as he assessed the party. He sighed, mouth working angrily under his beard, "This place is dangerous. I will gladly fight demons, but I have no desire to see where they come from."
"Look, we just… need to get through this until I can find a space where the Veil is thin," I explained, holding back the exhaustion that threatened to make me cry. Another deep inhale and I continued, "Once we find that, I can rip it back open for us to step through."
"And where would we end up?" Hawke asked skeptically. "You said you couldn't guarantee we would be in the same place, such as the main hall."
"No, I can't guarantee it, but I could try. Look, the Fade is really particular about these things." I replied, rubbing my forehead and deeply regretting that I removed my helmet earlier. "Erimond said the Anchor lets me step in and out of the Fade, and the Fade is a creation of our energies."
"Ah, I see your logic." Dorian jumped in, snapping his fingers. "If the will is strong enough, we can command it to deposit us back into our previous location."
"How?" Blackwall demanded, his tone tired as well.
"The Fade isn't physical like we think of physical things." I attempted to explain, drawing on my lessons from Solas. It was difficult concentrating as Bull continued to press nearly into my back and becoming one with my spine like a fretting puppy.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we're treading on physical terrain, Inquisitor." Stroud glanced back at me from his lead in front of the pack. I scowled at him and shrugged my arms in exasperation.
"All right, listen. The Fade itself is a collection of memories, energies, and emotions. It exists because the energy that creates life is an indestructible force and it will always exist. With me so far?" I asked the class at large. Hawke and Stroud, at the very least, were courteous enough to give me acknowledging nods. My companions were quiet, but Dorian's smirk at the corner of his lips encouraged me.
"Cool, so because the energy cannot be destroyed, it can only change into something else. The most common effect of this you see is water boiling into steam, or steam condensing into clouds and then forming rain. Right?" I asked again for comprehension. There were several blinks that went around me and Dorian laughed uproariously.
"Ah, shit." I said, realizing my mistake. Did they not have that kind of science here yet? I glared at Dorian and my mage desperately coughed into his arm in an attempt to control his laughter at my unintelligent brainy slip of the tongue.
Fuckity fuck.
"How… no. That's for a different time." Hawke shook his head and waved a hand to will away his confusion. "So if I'm to understand it, the… energy around us was previously a part of our world?"
"Yes!" I latched onto the out, fumbling on quickly. "The Fade is as we wish it to exist. We, as we were falling, naturally understand that falling means we'll hit the ground eventually. So once we entered the Fade, then the Fade transformed to set that expectation."
"Correct!" Dorian cheered happily. "This is why southerners put their mages through that Harrowing nonsense because the Fade will change to meet that mage's desire." Hawke's expression darkened and he frowned, folding his arms and tapping the edge of his chin as he walked.
"Bethany mentioned something similar, every night in her dreams being tempted with her freedom. She never went into detail about how it was presented to her, only that there were demons." Hawke explained softly, his voice distant in his memories.
"Every dream is different," Dorian glanced at Hawke empathetically, "She may not have told you either because the demons killed you, or offered to possess her, or something similar." Bull shuddered at my back and without a thought, I reached out and patted his thigh affectionately. I would have to keep an eye on my Qunari, as each step seemed to unnerve him further.
"Anyway," I diverted the conversation from something so personal, "In this case, as we don't know what the Fade looks like, and the Fade doesn't understand that we don't know what to expect, it gives us something… relatively familiar. Stones and statues, fog, and fireflies."
"I don't see statues," Bull muttered over my head. Surprised, I took an abrupt heel to stop and stared up at him. His eye patch was on my side, but even so, he refused to look at me, his attention on the world around him.
"Bull?" I asked, leaning at the hip to catch his eye. "What do you see?"
"I see the fog," Bull murmured with the slightest amount of fear in his voice. "But I see trees. Stones. Shadows. I can hear footsteps and I can—"
"Bull, you're not in Seheron." I reached up and gripped his bicep, forcing his attention to me, his cloudy eye blinked at me, unfocused. "I need you to reorganize your world, Bull. Think. I see stones taller than my head, sheer cliffs, and green fog that isn't thick enough for soup."
"There are spires of red lyrium, friend. Spears of gold that strike out from the earth below us." Dorian added, knowing better than anyone else here how to reorder the Fade into one's desire. "The sky above us is cloudy but bright with light. Concentrate, Bull. Force it to exist."
"I," Bull hesitated. I reached up and snagged a horn, dragging his head down far enough that he had to kneel to be comfortable at my height. I held onto his horn and placed my other hand on the opposite shoulder, attempting to ground him.
"It's like being with the re-educators, Bull." I whispered to him, quiet with our company. "This is your world. You change it, fuck these fears, and fuck these demons. You make the decisions here." It took a few moments, with several deep breaths from Bull before he nodded. I released his horn and shoulder and with a grunt, he stood back onto his feet. His eye blinked open and he scowled.
"Well," he grumbled, "it's not better, but it's not worse."
"It's a start, at least." I grumbled. "Anyone else? You gotta tell me or Dorian these things because you cannot—I'm gonna stress this—cannot trust anything here."
"That makes things a bit difficult, doesn't it?" Hawke muttered. "How are we to navigate this place if we cannot trust where we're going or even the people we are with?"
"You can trust the Inquisitor." Dorian replied confidently. "There is nothing in the Fade like the Mark. I doubt a demon can fake such a thing or its power."
"And the Mark is pretty clear on what's a demon and what's not." I added, bringing my Marked hand up to wiggle my fingers at them. "So I will always know who you are."
"Ah, good, the affirmation of one's self is always good." Hawke joked. For a while, we wandered the area and took the twisting paths that dipped into valleys, and climbed hills. Soon, spirits started to appear and I watched, curious as they floated between the walls and stones.
"Are they dangerous?" Hawke asked, his gaze following a different spirit.
"These guys? Nah." I answered, reaching out my right hand and watching as the spirit passed through it. "I would be surprised if they knew we were here. They're just memories." One in particular stopped and stared at me as if waiting for my attention.
"Except that one?" I said cautiously. Interested, I stepped toward the spirit and followed as it led me to a chair. On it was a glowing letter and tentatively, I reached for it. I was amazed that I could pick it up, but I did so and glanced at it.
"Holy shit!" I shouted, nearly dropping the letter. Alarmed, my companions rushed over to me. Dorian reached for the letter but I bounced to be out of his reach and held the letter over my head as if that would stop his longer reach from snatching the letter from me.
"What's the matter?" Dorian's brow drew in concern.
"It's—" I stalled. There's no way I can tell them it's in English! Not with those three around. Blackwall, Stroud, and Hawke weren't a part of the secret, and to tell them now would give me a whole new list of problems to deal with on top of trying to escape the Fade.
"Darling?" Dorian pressed, frowning with his hands on his hips. Hesitation gripped me tightly. Granted, there was no guarantee that we would be able to get out of the Fade and not be stuck here for the rest of our lives. Or death. With a deeply desperate sigh, I lowered the letter and fidgeted with it like a child.
It can't be in English. I must be seeing it in English. I swallowed and carefully handed the letter off to Dorian, allowing him a moment to read it. I watched as his eyes skimmed the letter and knew it must've been comprehensible to him, considering his concentration. A controlled, forced exhale slipped between my lips. Something must be messing with my brain.
"To find a light in the darkness," Dorian murmured. "It sounds as if these spirits are… afraid?"
"What could you possibly be afraid of when you're dead?" Blackwall asked, confused. The rest of the group had pulled in tight around Dorian, spying the letter in his hand. Relief flooded my limbs, the distraction of the new topic easing my sense of unplanned discovery.
That was very close.
"That's not too hard, considering these spirits are bundles of emotion." I answered, clearing my throat. "There's no rule in a rulebook saying your fears have to be rational. Alive or dead."
"Come to think of it, I find it strange that we haven't encountered any demons yet." Hawke glanced about as if expecting one to suddenly appear. I reached out and smacked the back of his shoulder lightly, shushing him with a finger to my lips when he looked over at me.
"Don't call on the devil, Hawke." I warned him. "There could be any number of reasons we haven't seen any, but I don't want to go looking for them." Especially knowing now that the Fade was working from my personal knowledge and using it against me.
"But the spirits seem to be lively enough." Dorian commented lightly, watching as another memory of a small child dashed past his knees and into the dark shadows of the boulders that hovered in the air. A trail of laughter followed, echoing, and bouncing through the rock.
"The spirits don't care, they aren't completely sentient." I replied, gesturing to the same spot that the child had run past. Moments later, the memory repeated and the same child ran through a second time, the laughter reverberating just as before. "See?"
"Do they know we're here?" Hawke asked, watching as the memory played itself over.
"Maybe? There's a lot of maybes with the Fade and I ain't no Solas." I answered with a small laugh. "To some extent, they may know we're here, but not what we are. They may also be so far into their memories that we're the spirits and they the living."
"Fascinating." Hawke commented, running his hand through a passing spirit. "We, or I, really, always assumed they were…"
"Demons," I finished for him with a nod. "The biggest thing to understand is that a demon doesn't exist until we make it exist. They're a corrupted version of a spirit that something has twisted."
"But there are still demons in the Fade, such as the mages face during a Harrowing." Stroud replied with a scratch of his beard. "Do you mean to say they are corrupted because of the Harrowing?"
"Possibly." I shrugged. "I've never seen one, so I couldn't tell you, but demons can also be created over the years. If an area is saturated with negative emotions, a spirit of Anger can turn into Rage, or a spirit of Compassion into Despair." During my explanation, Blackwall and Bull stiffened like guard-dogs, glancing over their shoulders as both stood at the mouth of a path that led down into another valley.
"I want to ask a very serious question." Blackwall said gruffly. "Does anyone else see those creatures down there?" I glanced over the valley and numerous shadows scuttled over the ground, a few would jump and fly from boulder to boulder, their wings chittering through the fog. I recognized them immediately.
This is what I was afraid of!
"Tarantula hawk wasps." I said disbelievingly. "No… no shit. Fucking hell. Are, uh, do you guys see giant bugs with wings and a fucking huge stinger?"
"Yes," came the resounding confirmation from my group.
Dorian turned to me, wide-eyed. "They're what, my dear? I've seen a wasp before, and it was not that."
"Uh, uh, uh," I panicked, watching as the critters circled their boulders and started rushing toward us. Not good, not good. They were about a hundred times larger than back home. "They're native to my home, they have excruciating stings and lay their eggs in live prey!"
"What in the blazes!" Hawke shouted, yanking his daggers from his belt. The rest of my companions also unholstered their weapons to prepare for the fight. One of them flew right toward Bull, who only barely managed to swing his maul and clip a wing, dragging it down to the ground and smashing its thorax in. Hawke and Stroud dove for cover with two or three hot on their heels. Dorian dropped a barrier over his head and mine as he leaped to press up against me and shove me around a floating rock.
A few more buzzed overhead and even though I had faced dragons, demons, and Corypheus himself, I still screamed and ducked my head, holding my hands over my head. Bull swore not too far from me and stumbled back to crowd in with myself and Dorian. Despite the shaking nerves, I forced myself up onto my feet and reached for my maul. With a swallow, I focused my gaze around for the invading creatures.
A few of them managed to buzz near my head and the hiss of their wings had me flinching away instinctively, but I managed to haul my weapon up and bat one away like a baseball. The sickening squish and exploding goo splattered against the ground as more appeared and began to overrun us. It became a chaotic game of whack-a-mole and it was an endless parade of bugs that crawled around us and threatened us with thrusts of their stingers.
It was a few minutes before we managed to regain some sort of control. The wasps had scattered and flew off into the fog over our heads, others scuttled away into the shadows of the boulders, their hissing and buzzing wings quietening as they fled. My group was completely and utterly disheveled, looks of terrorized disbelief and confusion writ clear on their faces.
"Inquisitor." Hawke started quietly. "Where… in the Maker's good name do you live that such things are native?"
"Uh," I drew out the word, realizing my slip of the tongue. "I…" Though I had studied much of the map of Thedas, I couldn't rightly pinpoint any desert areas similar to the southwest states of my country on the cuff of my sleeve. Struggling for a moment, I cast around to Dorian or Bull for help.
"As much as the question poses interesting answers," Dorian interjected, straightening his robes, "I suggest we continue moving onward in case they decide to come back."
"Agreed," I breathed, rattled. Stroud, Blackwall, and Hawke tossed wary looks my way, but I ignored them, holstered my maul, and marched on. The ground was uneven and puddles of green, shimmering liquid that beckoned the gaze and tempted the mind to touch it. Forcing myself forward, I kept my gaze up and led us aimlessly through the fog.
A glint of sparkling light caught my eye. Something incandescent winked at us and wrapped a tether around my heart. Startled, my body followed the compulsion to move toward the towering object, my gaze glued to the reflective surface. A mirror stood before me, tall, radiant, and broken. The brass frame was tarnished from age and disrepair, the reflective center was cracked, smudged with sludge, and fading.
Something was singing on the other side, faint, mournful, and begging.
"Boss?" Bull wandered over to my side, but surprisingly his reflection didn't surface in the mirror. My gaze flicked between mine and the place where his would be. With a studious glance, I looked back at Bull, then the mirror, confusion.
"So, don't freak out, but." I reached out with my Marked hand, my fingers hovering over the surface. "I can hear voices coming from within this mirror."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Hawke replied quickly as he suddenly appeared on my left side, snatching my wrist before I could touch the mirror's silvery surface. "This appears to be a lost mirror of Eluvian, and I would not recommend tampering with it."
"Ah, I thought it looked familiar." Dorian popped up over Hawke's shoulder, a curious frown between his eyebrows.
"A lost mirror of what?" I asked, coiling my hand back, Hawke's hot palm breaking the spell that had been cast over my mind. The singing had faded into the background of my thoughts, a swirling mass of forgotten memories and echoing pains.
"Merrill told me of them," Hawke murmured, his hand still on my wrist, but his attention on the mirror. "The elves of Arlathan traveled between their cities by the use of these mirrors. Many of the mirrors were destroyed, but some remain and are scattered around Thedas."
"That's it? They're just used for travel?" I asked, confused. It sounded like teleportation if I was going to be rude enough to open my mouth about it. Why, then, would the mirror's magical essence be singing to me? Hawke's grip left my wrist and I shook out my hand reflexively.
"In a sense. There are a few in the Tevinter Imperium, but all we've managed is to use them for long-distance communication." Dorian explained.
"They can also be corrupted, like the darkspawn." Hawke spat with a muted anger. "Merrill had been attempting to cleanse one of its taint."
"Ah," Dorian murmured sympathetically with a saddened frown. "I do not believe that went over well."
"No," Hawke growled, moving away from the mirror, "Her method was with blood magic and a Pride Demon. She lost her Keeper and her Clan." Dorian winced and clucked his tongue quietly, watching as Hawke took a path and led us away from the mirror. Bull and I shared a look but moved on without a word. We wandered for a while before a jutting length of stairs appeared in the fog, leading upwards.
"Well," I sighed with a shrug, "Not like we got anywhere else to be, right?"
"In the hopes of avoiding more of those nasty bugs, I would be happy to take the higher ground." Blackwall muttered, taking the first few steps up toward the next level. Stroud and Hawke followed after him, allowing me and the other two to bring up the rear.
"By the Maker, could that be…?" Stroud exclaimed, torn between fright and surprise. I rushed up the rest of the way and peered between their shoulders. Before us stood an elderly woman, dressed in the formal garb of a Chanty Mother, but her golden sun was embellished with more glittering work and embroidery. The headdress she wore was crowned in a sunburst from her forehead, flaring upward.
A sharp needle of pain struck my left temple and a flash of a broken memory raced through my thoughts.
Help me! Someone, please, help me!
"I greet you, Warden. And you, Champion." The woman smiled warmly, her wrinkles tender over her cheeks.
"Divine Justinia…" I recognized her face, but from where was a mystery to me. Her voice rang between my ears, the desperation and the pain that rattled in the cracked pieces of my memory. The Divine's gaze, molten blue, and piercing found my face, and my heels melted to the ground as I was stunned in place.
"I… I don't, I don't understand." I murmured, scrambling to collect my brain as it curdled. Had she been thrown into the Fade as she tossed me out of it? Was she stuck in here for the months, the year or so that I ran free in Thedas in her stead? A thousand thoughts ran over themselves, looking for an answer that would fit. The Mark in my hand pulsed, a confusing pool of energy and sadness whispered through it.
"It can't be the real Divine," Hawke's voice broke through the fog, "No one could have survived Haven."
"She did," Divine Justinia gestured to me with an open palm. "You think my survival impossible, yet here you stand alive in the Fade yourselves. In truth, proving my existence either way would require time we do not have."
"Surely you can understand our concerns and explain what you are." Hawke countered, unwilling to let the matter rest. I couldn't blame him, the confusion that lurked through my Mark made it difficult to determine if the woman before us was real, or a spirit, or a demon in disguise.
"I am here to help you," Justinia soothed. Her gaze turned to me, "You do not remember what happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, Inquisitor."
My gaze narrowed suspiciously. "Inquisitor? How would you know what my title is, ma'am?"
"I know because I have examined memories like yours, stolen by the demon that serves Corypheus." She smiled sadly, her hand folded before her in a penitent fashion. "It is the Nightmare you forget upon waking. It feeds off memories of fear and darkness, growing fat upon the terror."
"My memories… but," I hesitated, wondering how much to give away, "the demons on the other side of the Veil can't see those memories, of…" I paused, suddenly and viscerally aware of Blackwall's presence that burned at my back. This isn't how he's supposed to find out, fucking hell.
"No," Justinia continued, her gaze momentarily shifting to Blackwall behind me, "which is why the Nightmare dragged you here. In the Fade, with your Mark, it is all connected, just like the false Calling that terrified the Wardens." Stroud hissed angrily at the mention, his emotion flaring up my arm from my Mark.
"I would gladly avenge the insult this Nightmare dealt my brethren!" Stroud announced, a rage coiled around his tongue. Justinia held up her hand again, placating him.
"You will have your chance, brave Warden. This place of darkness is its lair." Justinia explained, allowing her hand to rest against her thighs, linked with the fingers of her other hand. "But first, you must weaken the creature that holds you here."
"The Nightmare." I answered. "I don't suppose you would know why the demons are following Corypheus, would you?"
The Divine shook her head sadly, "I know not why the demons follow the creature. It may be due to the Blight that consumes him, or the Calling his general falsifies, or the tools he harbors to enter the Fade." A heavy sigh escaped me and I ran my hands down my face, exhausted. It would have been far too easy to think we would get an answer about Corypheus from a dubious existence of the late Divine, but I had held a small hope.
"Inquisitor, when you entered the Fade at Haven, the demon took a part of you. Before you do anything else, you must recover it." The Divine held out her hands and from her tempered palms glowed spheres of energy, green and gold, and they floated from her hands toward me, circling themselves as they traveled gently through the fog. Nervous, I held my Marked palm up and the warmth of their energy followed into my Mark.
Why are you doing this? You, of all people!
The same pain I felt before slit my mind and I dropped to my knees as my brain reordered itself with the new information. My hands smacked over my ears, my fingers clawed into the back of my head as if I could split my skull open from the base of my spine.
Run while you can! Warn them!
Bull's and Blackwall's voices warred between my ears as hands gripped my shoulders and arms. I was stayed by the turbulent thoughts that rocketed behind my eyes, flashes of faces I didn't recognize, the Divine's voice a shrill alarm threatening to overrun my heart. Then, without warning, his voice.
Bring forth the sacrifice.
A dark, thundering presence pushed at the back of my eyeballs and tears sprung up, dribbling down my cheeks and pooling under my chin. A pressure built against my forehead and a flash of a fever rushed my neck and ears, humming under my damp skin. My vision, clouded by tears, dimmed and a thick blackness swallowed my mind.
I was running.
I was running from something, but now I'm running somewhere?
Where am I? This hallway is made of stone, where am I?
Screaming. Someone was screaming.
Run.
"Now… is the hour of our victory."
Thunder? Not a storm, there's something else down this hallway. A red light?
My heart. It was fluttering in my chest, howling in panic.
I slammed my shoulder into the wooden door that stood between me and the light.
"Why are you doing this? You, of all people!"
She was screaming, suspended in the air with a red, twisting light pulling her arms out to crucify her. People surrounded her in strange clothes, metal gleaming from their chest and shoulders.
"Keep the sacrifice still."
That was the thunder again. Incomprehensible as the words layered over themselves between a language I understood and one I didn't.
An orb.
Glowing, green, spiteful and it was pressed against the woman's chest. My gaze focused on the towering darkness that pressed the orb to the woman's chest. Crackling crystals speared through its skin, long, menacing claws flexed over the orb it held, an emanating sulfuric aura blanketed the room.
"Someone help me!"
Terror hammered my temples and as I stood there, breathless, I succumbed to it.
I screamed.
The crucifixion fell.
The orb shrieked as it bounced toward me and instinctively, I reached for it and grasped it in my left hand.
The creature roared and charged for me.
The world went white and with a wailing gasp, I choked and came up for air. Through watery eyes I could see Bull, he had me in his arms and shielded me with his body, holding me close against the warmth of his chest. Desperately, I clawed at his shoulders and clambered to wrap my arms around his neck. I hugged him as if something would rip me from his hold, my breath detonating in my lungs as I inhaled hysterically.
"Kadan, Kadan! I got you, you're here, I got you," Bull growled into my ear, his arms tight around my torso. My muscles shook like leaves in the wind and I could feel myself sobbing into the junction of his shoulder and neck. The memories assaulted me in waves, the screams and the explosion crashing in my mind. Bull's voice rumbled through my ears but my brain was so jostled that I couldn't make sense of anything. I wasn't sure how long it was before my breathing slowed and my tears dried, but eventually, I released my hold on Bull's neck and leaned back in his arms.
"By the grace of Andraste, my love," Dorian's gentle voice floated by me followed by the warm, caring touch of his hand on the back of my head, smoothing and petting down the length of my braid. Terror and fear struggled through my chest and in between my heartbeats, all the chaos I had felt upon waking up in that dripping prison cell rushed back like uncontrollable vomit.
I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm not in the cell, I'm not at the Breach!
"I saw it," I whispered brokenly, one of my hands gripped onto Bull's bicep to ground me, "when I landed in Thedas, I saw it. I saw what happened, why I was at Haven, I saw it, the Wardens, Corpyheus, all of it." My rambling tumbled over my tongue. Compulsively, my fingers gripped and loosened on Bull's arm, my mind utterly lost in the chaos of the returning memories. Bull's warm hand paced down my back softly.
"Landed in Thedas?" Blackwall accused. "What does she mean by that?"
"To be discussed later, my good fellow." Dorian derailed him sharply. He brought his hands to my cheeks and held my face tenderly, pulling my chin up so we could lock eyes. "Let me see you, my darling, there you are. Terribly sorry, I know you're frightened, but I just need to check for possession."
"She's not possessed." Bull rebutted angrily, his voice low in his throat.
"Know that, do you?" Dorian snapped at Bull, his voice hardening. "You are not to argue with me, we need to check, for her sake, you ignoramus." Bull remained quiet, but his arms loosened enough to allow Dorian's ministrations to continue as he looked over my face and examined my eyes deeply. I could feel the pulse of his magic through my neck and with enough effort, I could drag my mind through the muck and realign myself to the present.
"I'm coming back," I murmured, stupefied, my voice strangled quietly in my chest, "I'm sorry, give me a minute, it's me, I'm here. I'm—I'm struggling, it's a lot of information."
"I know, darling, I know. We all saw it." Dorian explained, brushing back the loose strands of hair from my sticky forehead. I nodded, afraid that any word I spoke would steal the whole of my breath away. Bull continued to cradle me in his arms, much like he had done back in Crestwood. My hand let go of his bicep, but his hand came up and snatched my fingers in his and held them tight.
"So," Stroud murmured, mindful of the crowd around him, "Your Mark did not come from Andraste. It came from the orb Corypheus used in his ritual."
"Yes," Dorian replied, twisting in his kneel to peer up at Stroud. "This, the Inquisition knew, though it wasn't actively shared with anyone outside of our organization."
"What you saw was the truth," the Divine's voice glided through our conversation, "Corpyheus intended to rip open the Veil, use the Anchor to enter the Fade, and throw open the doors of the Black City. Not for the Old Gods, but for himself." My shaking had subsided and with a flood of cold effort, I used Bull's hand to fix myself upright and stand back on my feet. My thighs and calves burned as if I had been running for days, my lungs were on fire and my back pulsed with hot pain.
The Divine focused on me. "When you disrupted his plan, the orb bestowed the Anchor upon you instead."
"I knew that," I accused her, new tears pooling at the corners of my eyes, "What I don't understand is how I got here, why I was taken from my world into this one!"
"Inquisitor?" Blackwall asked in confusion. I raised my hand to silence him because now was certainly not the time to deal with his questions. With trembling steps, I made my way to the Divine and without a thought, I gripped her robes and held her prisoner in my hands.
"Why am I here?" I demanded. The late Divine stared at me with her sharp eyes and a frown at the edges of her mouth. Her hands came to my shoulders and she held me gently, shaking her head.
"That, I cannot answer, child." She replied softly. "For now, you must escape the Fade, and you cannot escape the lair of the Nightmare until you regain all that it took from you."
"I lost my family over this shit," I growled into her face, shaking her slightly, "My parents, my brothers, and for what? I don't get my answers now?"
"You will, in time," the Divine answered softly, "You have recovered some of yourself, but now it knows you are here."
"Fucking fantastic." I spat, releasing her from my grip. Heat rose through my stomach and into my chest, boiling under my heart and tightening my throat. Whatever this creature was, it wasn't going to give me the answers I wanted, more than likely because it didn't know how I arrived in Thedas, either.
"You must make haste, I will prepare the way for you." Justinia said, and between one blink and the next, the spirit disappeared. A rumbling growl replaced the heat in my throat and I took a moment to exhale through it, fisting my hands together to keep myself from losing my shit over my companions.
"Inquisitor, I believe we're owed an explanation." Blackwall demanded carefully from behind me. Just as quickly as the flood of anger had swarmed my soul, it vacated and left me crumbling at the madness of it all. I raised my hands to my face and held my palms pressed to my eyeballs, feeling the warmth of my gloves bleed into them as I went through a breathing exercise to wrangle my emotions back into their pen.
"Blackwall," I started, my voice cracking. "I promise you, I will give you the whole story, but we need to get out of the Fade first, otherwise it doesn't matter."
"I don't believe we'll be getting very far without some explanation, Inquisitor." Hawke sided with Blackwall, his copper-green eyes narrowed on me warily. A deep, pained sigh erupted through my throat and I threw my arms up in frustration.
"I'm not from here, all right?" I nearly barked my reply. "I'm not from Thedas, I'm not from any place on this godforsaken planet, if you're so inclined." The crowd around me dropped into silence. Hawke's dissecting gaze never wavered and Blackwall's expression hardened into distrust. Stroud was the only one aside from Dorian and Blackwall that peered at me with curious consideration.
"How come you here, then?" Stroud asked, his heavy brow frowned in confusion.
"Jesus Christ," I muttered, pinching my nose. "If I knew that, I would not be shouting down the throat of a spirit looking like your late Divine." I knew this conversation wasn't going to be easy to handle, especially not with Stroud and Hawke now added to the mix. At the very least I wasn't stuck in this nightmare with Vivienne and Sera, too, I wouldn't have gotten very far, indeed.
"And how do you expect us to believe you're not some demon in disguise?" Blackwall asked, his tone strangled down into something with a bit more sympathy. His gaze clearly promised he didn't trust me in the slightest at the moment, but it was a start.
"I don't know. I don't know what to tell you that would make you believe me." I answered tartly. "Explain to me how I managed to ensnare these two? Cullen? Leliana? Cassandra? Solas! Pick one, Blackwall." I gestured between Dorian and Bull before jutting my hands wildly into the air, frustrated. I was beginning to imagine that conspiracy threads were starting to pull together to tie me up into some demonic monstrosity.
"If I may," Dorian interjected lightly, his attention on Blackwall, "We've traveled with her for months. We've slept in the same tents, eaten the same food, my good man. You and Bull have spent the longest with her, and you've missed it, surely that could offer some benefit of doubt?"
"We all have our secrets," Blackwall countered darkly, "And some are far more easily concealed than most."
"No, they're not." I answered, glaring at Blackwall. "If we wanna get nasty about this, how about we start with your secret, then?" Blackwall paused, puzzled. I waited for a beat, considering the options. I hadn't meant to start this fight, but that's always what it came down to between us, wasn't it? It was always a fight. There was no telling how Hawke and Stroud would take the information, but at this point, they were about ready to run me through with a blade for being a demon.
"What secret is that, Inquisitor?" Blackwall warned, the edges of his mouth twitching.
"Don't stand here accusing me of being something I'm not, kettle." I shot back, my hands resting on my hips defiantly. I hoped he would get the message, I didn't know what the penalty was for impersonating a Warden, but I wasn't a complete asshole. Hawke and Stroud, along with Dorian, turned their attention to Blackwall in surprise. Bull's eye floated to me, his brow raised, but he said nothing and waited patiently.
Of course, he would know, the bastard.
"I relent, then." Blackwall surrendered, his expression pained.
"Is that how this works?" Hawke growled between us, anger flaring in his eyes. "We just agree to keep our secrets and hope for the best?"
"I believe," Stroud held a hand out to Hawke's chest as if to stop the man from leaping into a fight, "We have more pressing matters to attend to, such as leaving the Fade, alive."
"Thank you," I exclaimed. "Please, I promise you, you'll get every insignificant detail if it pleases the court, but that's gonna be later, either we are stuck in here for eternity or we have a cup of tea outside, but you will get it."
"Very well." Hawke relented with a deep, frustrated sigh. He stowed away his daggers, weapons I hadn't even noticed he had drawn out. Unwilling to spend any more time on the subject, I stomped my way around Bull and followed the glowing, glimmering path the spirit had left for us to follow out. The group was quiet as we traversed the rocky surface and hurried toward our destination.
"Something troubling you, Hawke?" Stroud's voice came from the back of the group.
Hawke sighed. "The Wardens in the vision. Their actions led to the death of the Divine."
"I assumed he had taken their minds, as you have seen him do before." Stroud placated, his tone firm. Hawke must have given a dissent because Stroud continued, "Come. We can argue after we escape this dark place, as the Inquisitor promised."
Hawke snorted, but said no more.
It was a while more before we had gotten through a few more valleys and through some narrow stairways that we came to a landing that was wide and menacing. Towering spires of red lyrium struck from the rock and reached into the green, swirling sky. The fog cleared at our feet and a strange, luminous monument stood in the center. It glinted with an unknown light and seemed to beckon us forward. A whispering splatter of voices echoed through my head, my Mark's pulsing rhythm stuttered in my palm.
"Well now," a stentorian voice collided into my head, causing me to stumble, "Perhaps I should be afraid now that I face the most powerful members of the Inquisition." A rolling, booming laugh followed and seemed to shake the ground under my feet. My companions stopped dead and with a blink, I turned to them, confused.
"Did you… hear that?" I asked, as normally I was the only one capable of hearing the disembodied voices.
"Yes," Dorian exhaled with a growl. "That might be the Nightmare the spirit spoke of."
"Send it here," Blackwall groused, gripping his sword and glaring into the fog. "We'll show it the meaning of fear."
"Oh, Blackwall." The voice continued, thundering around us between the towers of lyrium. "Ah, there's nothing like a Grey Warden, and you… are nothing like a Grey Warden." Fear struck through my heart and I cursed my stupidity and childishness. I already knew that the Fade could take from my memories, what made me think any information I held was going to be safe?
"I'll show you a Warden's strength, beast." Blackwall threatened. Quickly, I held my index finger up to my lips and shook my head.
"Hey, dope, don't answer it!" I whispered harshly. "Just keep moving!"
Another laugh from the creature rang through the fog.
"The Qunari will make a lovely host for one of my minions… or maybe I will ride his body myself." The beast cackled, quaking the boulders that surrounded us. Bull's spine and shoulders electrified and he growled lowly in his chest, gripping his maul tighter.
"I'd like to see you try," Bull grumbled menacingly. I sliced my hand across my throat, motioning again for silence. Christ, what are they thinking? I spun on my heel, looking for the exit, but the fog began to roll back in, obscuring the edges of the landing. With some desperation in my step, I started to run through the fog and searched for any opening that would allow us passage.
"And Dorian, my warmest greetings… it is Dorian, isn't it? For a moment, I mistook you for your father."
"Well, that's rather uncalled for." Dorian lamented. If I had the presence of mind, I would have laughed. Trust my mage to be able to push off a demon's taunting like water from his well-groomed feathers. I continued my search, but the pillars of lyrium seemed to reorganized each time I looked away. Nothing remained in place and I knew then that the beast was keeping us here for this exact purpose.
"Warden Stroud. How must it feel to devote your whole life to the Wardens, only to watch them fall?" The demon continued mournfully, "Or, worse, to know that you were responsible for their destruction? When the next Blight comes, will they curse your name?"
Stroud closed his eyes, his voice a prayer, "With the Maker's blessing, we will end this wretched beast."
"And Hawke. Did you think you mattered? Did you think anything you ever did mattered? You couldn't even save your city. How could you expect to strike down a God?"
"Bastard beast," Hawke spat.
"Fenris is going to die. As well as your sister, just like everyone else in your family, and everyone you ever cared about."
Hawke sighed roughly, "Well, that is going to grow tiresome very quickly."
The silence was deafening as the creature's voice retreated from the alcove we were trapped in. I waited. It had touched every member of my group aside from myself and I wondered why. Was it the Mark? Maybe it suffered the same limitations as the Envy demon and could only reach so far back into my memories, into my mind?
"And you, my sweetest visitor."
"I could only be so lucky," I muttered, my shoulders sagging. It laughed at me.
"A foolish little girl comes to steal the fear I kindly lifted from her shoulders. You should have thanked me and left your fear where it lay, forgotten."
I remained quiet, glaring at the edges of the alcove. My companions had moved closer to me, their backs toward our center and attention facing out, waiting for the attack to come. It wouldn't, not if this creature was anything like its brethren. It would weaken us first before sapping the life from us.
"You think that pain will make you stronger? What fool filled your mind with such drivel? The only one who grows stronger from your fears is me."
I raised my eyebrows, skeptical.
"But, you are a guest here in my home, so by all means, let me return what you have forgotten."
"Tripe wipe." I groused. Dorian snorted, grinning at me. Within a moment, the fog around our ankles dispersed and through it, a path opened up to more stairs. Wary, but not having any other choice, we followed the open way for us. The sounds of distant voices and crackling could be heard, but I pushed us forward. The longer we lingered, the longer the Nightmare would have to rip us apart, both within our souls and between each other.
"There's another one." Stroud pointed ahead of us. At the end of the path, a small, glowing orb floated peacefully within the fog. A dread coiled between my ribs. This isn't gonna be easy. Somewhere in those memories was a crumb of information on my arrival to Thedas, and I couldn't avoid taking that which the demon gave me.
Fuckity fuck.
Cautiously, I made my way toward the orb and stared at it. The others were silent behind me and I suspected they knew as well as I did that this was going to be unavoidable. With a hard swallow and a deep, bone-rattling sigh, I reached for the orb with my Mark and allowed them to connect. Something clenched at my heart and twisted, a spike of pain seizing my diaphragm.
I inhaled.
The world was dark, shadows chased me from over high ledges and broken rock.
I was climbing. Something steep and rocky. Slippery.
There was a screech behind me and I cried in terror as I scrambled up the crumbling stairs. My heart shrieked into my lungs, violently attempting to escape.
I'm not going to make it, it's going to catch me, it's going to catch me!
My heels dug into the wet, slick surface and I shoved for all that I could, my biking gear snagged on ragged, jutting pieces of boulders that disintegrated under my hands.
Someone was at the top, her voice carried down to me as I climbed.
She dropped to her stomach and reached her hands for me, the headdress she wore flew off with a gust of wind and disappeared into the fog.
"Hurry, child!" She screamed. "The demons!"
Cold, snaking dread clouded my mind, and with uncontrollable sobs, I climbed and desperately reached for her hands. With amazing strength, she pulled me up and over the edge of the cliff and slapped away whatever had latched onto my leg.
"Run!" She shoved me. There was a light ahead of me, green and roiling with chaotic energy. The heat of it burned at my face and stole the breath from my lungs.
"Keep running!" She commanded, distant from me. I turned, alarmed that she could be so far from me.
No! Don't leave me!
I spun to see her struggling in the darkness. With a gasp, I leaped for her and caught her arms, dragging her toward me. A sickly, pale tentacle coiled around her legs and up her torso.
She smiled at me.
"Go."
She twisted her arms out of my grip and shoved me back. The light swallowed me as she was ripped into the foggy darkness, her scream echoing through the opening I fell through.
I came up, breathless and nauseated. I held my throat with a hand and doubled over, my stomach threatening to wretch itself free of my innards. Tears spilled from my eyes and I dropped to my haunches and held my head as close to in between my knees with my armor as I could. A hand came to the back of my neck and I shuddered at the touch.
"It was the Divine that saved you," Dorian murmured, his hand warm against the base of my skull.
"They thought it was Andraste sending you from the Fade," Blackwall muttered, voice thick, "but what they saw was the Divine behind you."
"And then she died." Hawke murmured, pained. Grief struck me like a slap and a quiet sob worked up through my tightened throat. I hadn't known her personally, but the fear and the desolation I felt in the moment of my escape flooded me. I had been utterly alone in the darkness, confused and disoriented, and she had been the only comprehensible thing in the darkness.
And she died.
"Then we know for certain," Hawke continued, his anger lacing his words. "The mortal Divine's death rests in the hands of the Grey Wardens that betrayed her."
"Stop it," I wept into my knees, holding my hands over the back of my head to contain the sea of emotional turbulence that wrecked me. There was a deep-seated cackle that echoed in the depths of my Mark, the same thundering howl of laughter that followed the Nightmare's taunting.
"As I said," Stroud snapped, "the Grey Wardens responsible for that crime were under the control of Corypheus. We can discuss it further once we return to Adamant."
"Yes, Adamant." Hawke growled threateningly. "Where the Inquisition faces an army of demons raised by the Wardens in our disappearance."
"How dare you judge us?" Stroud accused, shifting behind me. "You tore Kirkwall apart and started the mage rebellion!"
"To protect innocent mages!" Hawke barked back, "not madmen drunk on blood magic! Even without the influence of Corypheus, the Wardens go too far, they need to be checked!"
"What are you saying?" Blackwall rumbled heatedly. "You want to get rid of the Wardens? Everyone makes mistakes, they would've died to save us!" I had to get up, I had to work myself out of my cage between my knees because the memory would tear them apart and we would be shreds before we escaped the Fade.
"Hold now," Dorian stood from my side, the tips of his fingers still on the top of my head, "They might still be useful. What if Corypheus conjures another Blight? You never know." With a weak gasp, I pushed from my knees and stood, taking Dorian's hand to yank myself upright. He held firm and gripped my fingers tightly, grounding me with a half-smile.
"Now is not the time," I hissed, wiping at my eyes, "Don't you fucking see what this thing is doing? It wants this, it wants us at each other's throats so we spend more time fighting each other than getting out of here!"
The laughter returned, washing over our heads.
"Do you think you can fight me? I am your every fear come to life!"
Anger boiled under my stomach and I clenched my fists, closing my eyes to ignore it.
"I am the veiled hand of Corypheus Himself! The demon army you fear? I command it! They are bound all through me!" The voice reverberated around us, rattling the fog and the ground we stood on. Dorian and I latched onto each other to keep from tumbling over. Blackwall held his ground with his shield and Bull dropped a hand on his shoulder to steady himself.
A new path appeared to us through the fog, leading down into winking pools of black liquid. All other paths were closed to us, so with a sigh, I wiped my face and continued. Not like we have a choice, the beast is gonna switch things around until we're as broken as he wants us. The rest of my group followed at a sedate pace, their attention searching the emptiness around us.
Before long, a dilapidated graveyard came into existence. The fog wrapped around its tattered wooden fence with cold fingers. Whispers cluttered my mind and the small gate swung on a single hinge, whining as it swayed. With nothing better to lose as it was the only thing in front of me, I walked toward it. My fingers caught the gate and I pushed it fully open.
"Maker," Dorian sighed sadly, "These are…"
"Ours." Blackwall finished.
No doubt about it, the gravestones were each of a different style, weathered and aged in different timelines, but their names and descriptions were as sharp and new as ever. The first one at my feet read 'Blackwall: Himself', and the one next to it, 'Cassandra: Helplessness', and so on and on they continued.
"A portent of the future?" Stroud asked cautiously.
I had found Bull's, labeled 'Madness'.
Christ.
"No," I answered quietly, moving past the gravestones and back to the gate, "the Nightmare wants to disarm us, unnerve us, so we have nothing left when we reach him."
"Best to ignore it for the childishness it is, really." Dorian nodded, encouraging us to leave with a wave of his hand. "Come now, let's not dally further."
With a shuddering exhale, I left my curiosity behind and stepped out of the graveyard. Bull's gaze remained glued to his stone. I reached for his arm to draw him away, but before I could touch him, he stepped back and tucked his arm closer to himself. Surprised, I opened my mouth, but it shut quickly when he walked past me, his gaze distant and over my head, ignoring me.
Oh no.
My arm dropped and I shared a look with Dorian. My mage pursed his lips with a shake of his head and wrapped me in a half hug, his arm slung around my shoulders to press me tight against his torso. We walked on, my companions morbidly silent in the wake of our findings. Once again the path would open before us slowly, the fog drifted away from our feet and our gazes would fall on more floating boulders, rocks that jutted from the ground like angry claws, and green, gooey pools of tainted water marked the area in twisting rivers.
More whispers echoed in my head, louder and insistent. With a weak grip, I curled my fingers into Dorian's robe, holding on for dear life as we walked. The Mark pulsed warningly between my fingers with heat rising through my arm and into my chest. My breathing shuddered in my lungs and I struggled to focus as my ears began to ring and my thoughts glued themselves together, stuck and sticky with words and faces stretching into nonsense and incomprehension.
"My love?" Dorian whispered against my temple.
"There's… a rift nearby." I murmured, exhausted. My body began to tremble with the effort of existing. A weight, a hundred hands or so pressed against my shoulders and my hips, dragging me down into the rock as if to bury me. I fought to stay upright, but I was almost certain Dorian was carrying most of my weight.
"What's happening to her?" Stroud's voice warbled in my ears. Confused, my head pulled up to see what had caused it, but my vision also wavered. Alarmed, my hands that held me close to Dorian in our half-hug gripped him desperately as fear seeped into my bones.
No, no, no!
"She says there is a rift nearby. They… they must tax her differently on this side of the Veil." Dorian's voice cracked as uncertainty tainted his words. He readjusted his arms around me, nearly cradling me against his side like a child. His voice neared my ear, "My love, where is it? You mustn't falter now, we are almost home."
"Home?" I said deliriously. Right. Home. Rift. Rift opens, we go home. Working through my thoughts felt like a fight through a muddy trench flooded to my knees. I swallowed and nodded as if to myself. I could do it, we just had a little further to go. With whatever concentration I could muster, I dragged my legs through the imaginary muck and focused on the tug of the rift. Like a dance, I pressed my hands against Dorian's torso to urge him forward, to lead him to where I could sense the rip between worlds.
"I see it!" Hawke's voice echoed through my mind. Hurriedly, Dorian escorted me toward the stairs that dropped into a weathered and beaten arena where a rift glowed ominously at the farthest end. Low, rumbling laughter bubbled up through my legs and into my chest, but it wasn't mine. We were nearly halfway across the area before a deafening crack of stone halted us. Dorian clutched me to his chest, his arm shielding my face.
"Maker!" Blackwall exclaimed, his feet stumbling.
"Fuck," Bull growled, his shadow moving to shield Dorian and me. My neck felt like it would snap with the weight of my head as I looked up at what had stopped us. A searing flare of fear spiked through me at the sight of the Nightmare.
A towering, emaciated creature stood before us, limbs longer than Envy's, fingers crooked and hooked between joints, and a face that dripped with tentacles. Spiders' legs wiggled behind it, attached to its spine and twitching independently of each other as it walked toward us, a wide, bone-tooth grin stretched to a sickening degree across its face.
It was the monstrosity behind it that stopped my heart. The creature was larger than anything, any dragon or beast, I had ever seen. Dotted along every limb, every patch of rotting, slipping skin and bone, was a single eye. They numbered into the hundreds, and they all spun, twitched, and glared in a chaotic pattern. Fangs dripped with green liquid down the front of a broken head that I could only assume was its face. A thundering, threatening growl emanated from its center.
"And finally, here you are, in my home—"
"You must get through the rift, Inquisitor!" the late Divine's voice shot through my thoughts unforgivingly, "Get through and then slam it closed with all your strength!"
The Nightmare snarled, limbs tightening over its shoulders, "Wretch! Begone!"
"You will banish the army of demons!" Justinia's spirit appeared behind us, rushing forward toward the Nightmare, "Exile this cursed creature to the farthest reaches of the Fade!"
"Meddling sprite!" The Nightmare flared its limbs to catch the charging spirit. As the spirit of the late Divine soared past us, its light brightening into a blinding flare, a whispered longing prayed into my Mark, gripping my heart tight with grief.
If you would, please tell Leliana, "I am sorry, I failed you, too."
Then, with a popping, electrified explosion of energy, the monstrosity that stood behind the Nightmare collided with the invading spirit of the Divine. A blinding sunburst covered the area, forcing us to duck and shield our eyes from the attack. A cleansing wave of energy flooded my chest and I buckled. A roar of rage shook the ground and then a terrifying crash of rock and water echoed behind it. I pulled my head up from the protection of Dorian's arms to see the monstrosity tumble into the depths of the Fade.
Then, without a moment of hesitation, Stroud and Hawke leaped into the arena with the Nightmare.
"Dorian, shield," I gasped, trying to wiggle away from his hold. He had to be in the fight, we all did, or we wouldn't make it out. Shaking, I reached for my maul and yanked it over my shoulder. My mage gave me a wary glance, but released me and drew his staff. Bull stood before us, hesitating, but as Dorian stomped forward, so did he. I closed my eyes, pained. I'm sorry, Bull. I'm sorry, guys.
The madness of the battle played before me. Hawke and Stroud had slammed into the Nightmare with all the brute force they could muster. Stroud brought his shield to bear against the creature, forcing it to step back into Hawke's bitting blades that snatched and snagged on every bone and piece of skin it could reach. Dorian's barrier dropped over them like a bomb, blanketing their bodies in a purple fog that sparked and electrified the air around my company.
Bull had stormed around to get behind the Nightmare, but as his maul came down to strike at the creature's head, the Nightmare cackled and phased out of sight. The menacing laughter echoed around us and the air shifted behind me. The Mark howled in my palm and my maul swung around to catch in the hand of the creature as it rematerialized before my eyes.
"You won't escape me, sweetling." Its voice slithered between my ears and a shudder ran up my back. "You are mine." A revolting coil of metastasized rage cracked under my ribs and a pulse of it rocketed up through my spine into the back of my head. Thoughtlessly, I dropped the maul from my grip and my Marked hand struck out, aiming for his chest. A whirling cloud of red encased my fingers and wrist, claws of sharpened Fade illuminated over my joints and bit deep into his boney torso.
In turn, his own claws and spider limbs had dug into my back and shoulders, hugging me close to his chest. His skeletal head grinned at me, teeth blunt and blackened with disease. My other hand had snaked between us to snag an exposed rib, but now we were locked against each other, the fog and Fade slowly swallowing us.
"Inquisitor!" Blackwall roared.
"Don't!" Dorian shouted over him. "You will get caught in the eddy of energy, you won't get out!"
"We can't just leave her like that, Dorian." Bull growled, pacing just out of the corner of my eye.
"Tell them," the creature demanded, his teeth clacking together, "They may step through the rift and I shan't follow."
"Lies!" Stroud brandished his shield angrily. "Do not listen, Inquisitor!"
"No lie," the Nightmare soothed, the tentacle appendages petting my face with their slippier tips, "They shall escape unharmed and I shall live on their fear and nightmares of abandoning you… forever."
"Jaime!" Dorian's voice cracked.
"Get through the Rift, Dorian." I commanded them, a tingle of cold fear gripped the end of my spine and crawled through my lower back like I was sinking into an ice bath.
"Jaime, no," Dorian pleaded, "He won't let you go, we'll—"
"Bull." I changed my tactics, my gaze never leaving the flattened squid-flesh head of the creature I held in my claw. "Pick up the men, walk through that Rift, and do not look back."
"Bull, I swear on my life, I will strike you down." Dorian's attention was diverted, but the shadow of Bull's figure had disappeared from my peripheral vision. I swallowed and held in the exhale of relief.
I knew I could trust you.
"He's mad, he's actually going to drag them out of here?" Hawke sputtered, surprised. I could hear Dorian and Blackwall struggling, but despite his threats, Dorian hadn't cast a single spell against his captor. Blackwall spat a black curse through his teeth, but I could hear the stomping march of his boots and Bull's, then before long, the hissing shriek of the Rift as my companions fell through it.
"Good," the Nightmare laughed, "How pitiful, I had expected more resistance from you, Inquisitor. You hadn't bargained at all for the lives of the Warden or Champion."
"I can't stay," I said into the ether, my voice trembling under the steel I attempted to force into it. "You know that, don't you?" The creature tilted its head as if to discern the meaning of my words from a different language. Its legs tightened over me, nearly smothering me into its essence.
"Go," Hawke agreed, "I'll cover for you."
"No!" Stroud barked, "You were right, the Grey Wardens caused this! A Warden must—"
"A Warden must help them rebuild!" Hawke refused darkly. "That's your job!"
The Nightmare howled with laughter, "You honestly believe I would allow you to leave, no harm or foul?"
"Yes," I growled, and with all the concentration boiled into my Mark, I twisted the red claws and dragged them out from his flesh. A stream of gnarly, knotted energy popped and bubbled from the gaping wound. The Nightmare howled and its legs ripped along my back, slicing through my armor and leathers like warm butter. I screamed and yanked back as far as I could go, shredding more of its bone as the red claws stretched and ripped the space between us.
Hawke caught me and he immediately dragged me back as Stroud leaped forward with a devasting swing of his sword.
"Inquisitor!" Stroud shouted over the wailing of the Nightmare, "It has been an honor!"
"Damn him!" Hawke growled. He wasted no time and ducked enough to hook his arm under my legs and lift me into a bride's carry against his chest. He hesitated for a moment before taking off toward the Rift, launching himself with long strides to avoid tripping over the crumbling rocks.
"Hawke," I gasped as we reached the Rift, "put me down!"
"We need to leave, Inquisitor!" Hawke demanded, but he set me down regardless, his chest heaving from the effort of our escape.
Without a word, I shoved him. His expression shifted into wide-eyed betrayal before being swallowed by the energy of the portal. With a hard swallow and stumbling over my ankles, I raised my Marked palm and pointed it toward the Nightmare. A beam of Fade wrapped around my wrists before striking out and whipping itself tightly around the tattered neck of the Nightmare.
"Thank you, Stroud." I whispered and stepped back into the Rift. The Fade inhaled deeply through my ears as the Rift accommodate my presence. The tether between us tightened and more latched onto the edges of the Rift and turned them inward. The Fade snapped and ripped at my arms as I held them steady, taking deep, heel-dug steps backward. Something snarled through my Mark and chewed up my muscles, demanding release. I held on through the chaos, tears streaming down my eyes, and wrenched myself out.
A short whistle of energy drew away from me like the receding tide and before I could make sense of it, blue sky was above me, the place was on fire, and I collapsed back onto the stone ground of Adamant's courtyard with a wet slap as the blood from my back splattered.
I closed my eyes, relief thundering through me.
Home.
