Lavellan Twins of the Inquisition
Author's Note: Everything belongs to Bioware. (Nimue and Nevrynn are OC). This is my first story. Rated M for future content. I don't know how frequently I will update.
Chapter 1: BeginningsA bright green light flashed behind my closed eyelids. I groaned as the light hurt my eyes and I tried to shut out the light to sleep a little longer. I heard more than saw the next spark of magic, but the strangled, gasping scream that followed startled me. I opened my eyes to find myself laying on stone floor, the cold and damp making my muscled groan as I sat up slowly, a dull throbbing at the base of my skull from sleeping on the hard surface. I went to rub my eyes but a heavy weight on my wrists startled me.
"Wha….. Where am I?" Another zap – louder this time - and sharp gasp not to far away echoed off of the stone walls.
"Nimue!" a breathy the voice gasped and suddenly the fog in my brain lifted. I was in a cell, and my sister was ten feet away, on her knees and chained in the middle of this dungeon.
"Rynn! What-" I saw the green sparks dance along her outstretched arm and I watched horrified as she sobbed loudly in pain. "By the Gods! What is that?"
"I don't know Nim. It hurts..."
The door to the dungeon opened and four heavily armoured guards walked in, two flanking the doorway and two behind Rynn. A moment later two armoured women followed. I crouched down lower, instinctively wary of being in a room outnumbered and trapped by these humans. The two women were imposing. The taller one had short, dark hair and wore heavy armour. She had olive toned skin and dark eyes, and the firelight made the many scars on her face shine slightly. She seemed dangerous and skilled, and she was fuelled by rage as drew her sword to point the tip at my sister's throat. I couldn't even gasp before the shorter woman pushed the sword down and pulled the woman back, urging her to pit her sword away. This woman wore a hooded light armoured chainmail set, with a hood pulled up to hide most of her vibrant orange-red hair. The two spoke a moment - calming the one woman - before pacing a moment and turning to face Rynn.
"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you right now." Spoke the darked haired woman with emotion. "The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you two." The woman pointed in my direction without looking up from Rynn.
I felt my magic pulse along my hands as I grabbed the cell bars. Rynn's eyes flickered to me.
"Venavis, Lethallan." [Stop, Sister] Her voice rang sharp, startling me and all eyes shifted to me as I froze. After a pause she turned back to our captors. "You think I'm responsible, Shem?" The dark-haired woman lunged forward and grabbed Lynn's arm, lifting her glowing hand into the air just as another spark of green magic shot up her arm like lightening.
Rynn was staring at the woman unblinking, and through clenched teeth hissed, "I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?" she growled in frustration.
"I don't know what this is or how it got there." The woman lunged forward, grabbing Rynn's throat - lifting her slightly - and snarled in her face.
"You lie!"
Rynn struggled and gave a strained, sarcastic chuckle. "Not what you were hoping to hear, Shem? I'm sorry to disappoint but that is the truth!"
"Stop." I stood, "Release my sister." The woman dropped Rynn and she sputtered, gasping for air as the woman walked over to my sell, seething in anger. "We can't answer your questions. I don't remember how we even got here. We don't even know who you are!"
"Set. Us. Free." Spoke Lynn hoarsely, rubbing her throat.
"That is Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, Right hand of the Divine. I am Leliana, Left hand of the Divine. Or, we were before she was killed at the Conclave." The red hair woman finally spoke with a melodic accent. "Now, can you tell us what you can remember? Perhaps how this began?"
"I….. remember running." I spoke slowly, trying to remember. "It was dark. There were….. things….. chasing us."
"And a woman." Spoke Rynn, "Bathed in gold light. She reached out for us."
"I don't remember anything else. Just a bright engulfing light." The Seeker rubbed her temple a moment as we sat in silence then seemed to make a decision.
"Go to the forward camp Leliana. I will take them to the Rift." The Seeker motioned to us, and the guards came forward. They unlocked our shackles and tied a rope around our hands, binding them tightly. "Come, I will show you what has happened."
We were led upstairs, through a chantry building, and as we stepped outside, I gasped. The sky above us was an eery shade of grey-green like a storm was brewing. There was a tear in the sky, some sort of portal where green orbs and floating boulders were falling to the ground.
"We call it the Breach. A massive Rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave."
We watched as green lightening shot from inside the portal and shot outward in the sky just as Rynn gasped and fell to her knees. I watched as a green scar flared with the same lightening magic and shot up her arm, making her veins green as the magic crawled up her arm. The flare of magic cut into her skin, widening the green mark just as the portal above us did the same.
"Unless we act, the Breach will grow until it swallows the world. And each time the Breach grows, so does the mark. And it's killing you. But it may be the key to stopping this, to closing the Breach."
Nesrynn breathed heavily as the magic faded from her mark. "I guess I don't have much of a choice." The woman grunted disapprovingly and went to turn away.
"We WILL help. Too many lives have been lost already, and I won't let that mark kill Rynn." I bent down to try and help Rynn but she shrugged me off, as she stood on her own, albeit fairly ungracefully.
"Fenedhis! Magic! Of course, it would be magic that kills me." Rynn snarled, glaring at me. I shook my head, trying to tell her it wasn't my fault.
Seeker Pentaghast motioned forward, grabbing the rope at our hands. The guards motioned for me to follow, and we walked through the camp. Men and Woman, humans, and city elves, and even the occasional dwarf were jeering at us, making rude gestures. Some were angry, but most seemed sad and desperate.
"They have decided your guilt. They need it. The people of Haven mourn our most Holy, Divine Justinia. She brought our leader together to urge for peace between the warring Templars and Mages, and now they are all dead and there is a rift tearing apart the sky.
"Typical, blaming the Dalish for something you don't understand." Muttered Rynn.
The woman pulled a dagger and we stumbled back, but she only used it to cut the binds from our hands. "Come, we will travel to the Breach and see what can be done."
XxX
The Seeker took us through the valley to get closer to this Breach, and as we got closer, we were forced to fight demons that emerged from a smaller rift. A bald, bare-faced Elvhen mage – Solas - had grabbed Rynn's marked hand and somehow closed the rift. The companion of this Solas character was humorous Dwarf named Varric who had an intriguing modified crossbow that he named "Bianca" for some bizarre reason. We introduced ourselves and made it to crossroads and were discussing the optimal path to reach the other end of the Valley. It looked like there were challenges with both paths.
Rynn bared her teeth in frustration of the choices, pacing a moment. "Fine. We will go through the Valley. It's the most direct path." She gripped her sword hilt and I heard her leather glove flex. She was eager for more fighting. My sister had been thrust into leadership because of this mark, and with her decision made, the group started to move out. I shook my head in disagreement.
"Seeker do you have any more agents you could spare?" The group paused and turned to me. Cassandra nodded to Leliana who then spoke.
"I can only spare three agents. What do you have in mind?" The agents gathered beside her.
"Let us take the mountain pass. We will do a sweep for the missing team. We can't afford to leave anyone behind and there should be enough of us to make it through whatever we find." Leliana seemed to agree but Cassandra seemed was still contemplating. Rynn glared at me but I shook it off.
"You know I'm right. The more men we have on the other side, the better chance we have dealing with the Breach." Cassandra grunted, and nodded. Rynn scoffed and half-turned away.
"Fine. Only because I know you can handle yourself. If you're not on the other end when we come out of this, I'm not coming back to save you." I gritted my teeth as she walked away.
I turned to the small group of scouts, thankfully there was at least a warrior. They gathered around me and I shook their hands in a quick introduction. "Follow me and stay at least 6 paces behind me. If I fall in battle, retreat back here. Understood?" Murmurs of agreement followed.
We quickly reached the entrance to the mountain pass, and we could hear the faint sounds of fighting in the Valley below but were unable to see anything at this distance. "Our goal is to find the missing patrol and make it through with minimal casualties. Don't be a hero and don't be stupid. That's what Rynn is for." We pushed forward into the depths of the mountain.
There were a handful of demons that were quickly killed, and it wasn't long until we were on the other end of the pass. We had found the bodied of a few dead scouts at the exit, but there should have been more. As we rounded the corner into the sunlight, I saw the last of the patrol fighting and I ran forward to help. I motioned to the right, hoping the scouts behind me understood my order to flank the enemy as I jumped in trying to draw the enemies off of the injured patrol. The tactic worked well, and the shades and spirits fell quickly with the reinforcements. It was lucky there was no rift to seal and these had likely just been demons who had wandered up from the Valley. The captain and her men were alive and I felt relieved we could save them.
After a moment's pause to check for wounded – and sending some men back through the cleared path behind us - we hurried down the last of the mountain, falling in step right behind my Sister's team. We nodded at each other and turned to face the Breach just as a haunting voice seemed to fill our minds.
XxX
I was petrified at the greater demon before me. Its evil laugh resonated in my head and It whispered in my head to give up and die. I've never faced a demon like this and I was frozen. A body stumbled into me, freeing me from my petrified state and I jumped into battle.
Solas and Varric were located off to the side of the Demon so I ran to flank the rear. Cassandra was under its feet and getting badly hit so I shoot fire along its feet in hopes to make it stumble or at least distract it for a moment. It was tireless and no number of attacks were impacting the demon. The demon was aided by lesser demons and shades, scattering any attempt we had to form a wall and creating chaos in the battle field. As I shot a blast towards a demon racing towards me, I noticed the Rift behind it seemed to pulse in time with the magic of the greater demon.
"RYNN!" I screamed, unable to find her in the mess of battle. "DISRUPT THE RIFT." I put my stave on my back and ran into the battle, ignoring the demons that began to chase me, hoping to give Rynn a safe path closer to the Rift. I screamed again about the rift and it seemed to catch the attention of the team, who started picking off the demons behind me. I ran parallel the greater demon, hoping to pull its attention as I shot fireballs at it.
Suddenly, green magic floated up into the rift causing the magical sheen of the demon to disappear. I skidded to a stop for a moment– thankful the demons chasing me were gone – and as the greater demon faced me, I screamed at the demon as it roared in rage. I charged it, ducking under its attack and shooting a fireball at it's face so I could run right between its legs. With each hand I shot magic into it's the inside of its knees and rolled out off the way. It roared in pain and stumbled down behind me as I turned around and shot more fire at it's rear, glad that the attacks were breaking through its tough hide.
I shot as much fire as I could muster again and again at the demon, attack after attack hoping it would be enough to kill the monster. Too soon the attacks seemed to bounce off it's hide again as the green glow retuned. I had ended up close to Rynn and she reached up to disrupt the rift again. The demon, now that our attacks weren't causing damage, stood tall again and roared so loud it seemed to shake the ground. It swivelled its massive head searching for something, and when it's gaze fell on me, my blood ran cold. Blood was frothing at its mouth and it sneered at me with dark hatred as it formed whips made of electricity in either arm. The first whip attach I was able to jump out of the way, but the second shot across my back as I tried to roll out of the way. I struggled to get up, and felt the heavy footfalls as it began charging.
Rynn disrupted the rift again and I was close enough to the Breach to feel the magical shockwave. The Demon stumbled and hit the ground due to the force and the inquisition forces jumped at the chance to finish it off.
I got back to my feet and fired my last reserves of magic at it, and in a moment of horror watched as it prepared one final assault, aimed right my sister who was distracted trying to close the Rift.
I ran and threw myself in between Rynn and the Demon just as the last of it's dying magic blasted through my body, throwing me backward into just as the rift above us closed. I was thrown into Rynn hard and we roll together, surrounded by a spinning world and green magic. It takes me a moment to realize when we stop rolling and just lay in the dirt and blood in pain. I watch the sky as a glowing green orb is sucked into the closing rift. My eyes darken as pain sears through my body.
XxX
Author's Note: Elvish translations are included in [italics] as the characters are and are meant to be interpreted by the characters. Interpretations may not be correct and therefore will be the closest intent of the words. Example – Lethallin/Lethallan – meaning Kin-blood, but could mean sister or cousin or family, or more causally someone of the similar clan or race.
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