Carefully, I leave the room as Cassandra, Bull and Solas decide what to do about the parchment, not sure whether this is a trap or their saviour. I decide to leave, too tired, too angry and too disappointed to have the energy to argue and such. Once outside, I look up at the sky, arms crossed as my turquoise eyes narrow at the peaceful bright blue sky, filled with the fluffy snow white clouds however the sound of footsteps perk my ears as I turn to raise a brow at two mages reaching me. Immediately, I feel my muscles tense, my eyes narrowed as my twitching gauntlet hand draws near my daggers, wary of them.
"Hey you're with those inquisition people right?"
Curious, I raise a brow at the two plain looking mages both with short chopped brown hair; however the one on the right is a mixture between brown and orange like a carrot. One of them has a darker complexion than the other, while the lighter one has freckles; the one on the right has plain hazel eyes while the other has onyx black eyes. The pair are wearing plain cream coloured robes, ugly looking ones at that.
"That leader of yours is her name Evelyn?" The one of the right questions.
"Yeah what of it?" I frown, my hand drawing closer and closer to the blade.
"No way, tch who would have thought evasive Evelyn would scale up the ladder," The one on the right scoffs sarcastically. "Pardon?" I question forcing myself to be nice considering we want these abominations on our side.
"Don't you know, as predicable, Evelyn is from the Trevelyan's a wealthy family, due to that wealth she wasn't picked on as we were, she bribed them or slept her way to the top to gain Lydia's favour," The one on the right explains as I feel a twitch of anger at these rude remarks.
"She never spoke whenever asked she would be silent, creepy girl, who would have thought such a freak wo-"
Lowly, the sound of air being cut and the metal sound of my blades echo in the air. The two stop in their tracks, eyes widening and shaking in fear. Teasingly, my metal blade touches the neck, one more push and the two would be dead where they stand. However, my ears perk up at the sound of trickling and my eyes widen at the pool below the one on the left.
"Did you just piss yourself?!" I blurt out disgusted as the one on the right starts crying, pleading for me not to kill them. Fed up, I push the two to the floor.
"Get out of here before I change my mind and get this through your brains, if you spread those rumours on Evelyn your necks will meet my blade again," I warn them darkly as the two flee like pathetic whelps. Tch, Mages, forever the cry-babies.
"What happened?" I turn to the sound of rushing footsteps to see a worried Evelyn and sigh, deciding not to question it.
"Some extremist, I dealt with him," I lie simply.
"Why's there a puddle?" Cassandra points out.
"Wait, don't tell me the guy pissed himself!?" Bull bursts out laughing while Solas raises a brow for answers but I shrug.
"So we going or not?" I ask as the group nod, confirming the next task as we all leave and head to the church as the parchment spoke of. "Fennic I'm curious about something," I hear Cassandra enquire as I turn to her.
"Yeah," I reply.
"How did you know about the Tevinter-"
"A guess," Quickly, I lie feeling eyes on me but I shrug them off.
"A guess!?" Cassandra frowns as I shrug.
"An inkling, I mean come on most Vints have a stick up their ass or something," I mutter and enter the church only to be greeted by…
A familiar neon portal in the air, a portal, a breach…just…picture perfect.
Loudly, the sound of grunting and wood making contact with something echoes as the creak of the door announces us, the figure turns to us, a male, busy fighting familiar hordes of enemies.
"Good you're finally here…now help me close this would you?" The male cheerily remarks as we turn to the fight, focused on closing the breach.
Loudly, the sound of the demonic screeches and our battle cries echo in the chantry walls as we fight. Shocked, I raise a brow when Iron Bull rushes in, to protect the male figure from a swipe to the back. Focused, I strike my blades at the monsters as I flip backwards, Solas creating a wall of ice as suddenly…everything stops…wait what!? Shocked, I frown at the brief shifts of movement and freezing but remain in fight mode. Solas fires his attacks and I draw my bow, joining Solas in the fight as we both attack from afar, using the wall as a shield, to help protect us. Eventually, Evelyn raises her hand to the portal, swiftly closing it, thank goodness for that. Calmly, we both stand and I turn to Solas.
"Solas, be honest do you have any idea what just happened?" I ask referring to the brief freezes in time however Solas merely gives me a look of confusion, as I release a tired sigh.
"Come on, you're the fade nerd you should know this," I grumble tiredly following him, seeing the glint of intrigue and another I cannot identify in his eyes as we approach the stranger in white robes, with black hair, brown eyes and tanned features.
Evelyn POV:
Curious, I raise a brow at the male, from his looks what stands out is his pointy moustache heh, it's unique, suits him, I like it. My green hues gaze into a pair of playful dark pairs; I raise a brow at his tanned features, rare considering Fereldan's climate, considering most around these parts don't have the tanned features he has.
Who is he?
"Fascinating so how does that work exactly?" The male chuckles smiling at me as I look away, not sure what to say.
"You don't even know do you? You just wiggle your fingers about and boom, rift closes," The male comments.
"Well I have a few theories but no solid proof yet," I confirm.
"Ah a fellow experimenter of the arts," He smiles as I shrug, casually.
I wouldn't call myself a experimenter more of a curious mage who is interested and will try to find a solution or answer to the question.
"Um…" Nervously, I glance to the side not sure how to respond.
"What? No applause?" The stranger pouts as I blink, scrambling my head together to form a question.
"So who are you?" I questions intrigued to know him.
"Ah getting a head of myself I see, Dorian of house Pavus…most recently house of Minrathous, how do you do?" Dorian smiles as my eyes widen at his words.
"Wait oh no!" Quickly, I turn to see a silent but fuming Fen, taking a step back, keeping a distance from the group subtly but I can feel her malicious intent and killer glare sent to Dorian.
"Another Tevinter…be cautious with this one," Cassandra warns me.
"Watch yourself, it's always the pretty ones you have to watch out for," Bull frowns at Dorian.
"Unsuspicious friends you have here, especially the one in the back," Dorian smiles as we glance at the fuming Fen who remains silently glaring at the silent Tevinter.
"Who can blame them? A Tevinter reeking of surprise surprise blood comes to our rescue sorry if we find that a bit suspicious," Fen spits out, sarcasm evident in her icy tone taking me aback as I shiver, recalling the familiar glare just like back at Strom Coast.
"Magister Alexius was once my mentor, so my assistance should be valuable as I'm sure you can imagine," Dorian smiles at me.
"Where's Felix? Is he doing well?" I ask concerned for the boy.
"I'm sure he's on his way, he's had some lingering illness for months. Felix is an only child and Alexius is being a mother hen, most likely. He was to give you the note then meet us here, after ditching his father," Dorian explains to me.
"So you're a magister?" I ask curious but wary as well raising a brow at the tired sigh he releases from his chipper self before.
"All right let me say this once; I'm a mage from Tevinter but not of the magisterium. I know southerners use the term interchangeably but that only makes you sound like barbarians," Dorian smiles.
"You're betraying your mentor because…?" I frown at his decision; he may be a double agent.
"Alexius was my mentor meaning he's not anymore, not for some time. Look, you must know the danger that should be obvious even without the note. Let's start with Alexius claiming the allegiance of the mage rebels out from under you. As if by magic, yes? Which is exactly right. To reach Redcliffe before the inquisition, Alexius enters, distorts time itself," Dorian revels making my eyes widen at the news.
"B-but how I mean that's amazing but also terrifying, I mean how? What does it need to create that? That's fantastic!" I whisper in awe, my eyes sparkling at the sheer idea being made into reality.
"This is no time to be amazed!" I hear Fen hiss making me sigh, knowing she's right, I snap out of my thoughts and turn to a serious Dorian.
"The rift you saw here. You saw how it twisted time around itself, sped some things up ad slowed others down. Soon there will be more like it and they'll appear further and further away from Redcliffe. The magic Alexius is using is wildly unstable and it unravelling the world," Dorian reveals making my eyes widen at the familiar weight of pressure hitting me.
"You're asking an awful lot for me to believe," I warn him.
"That is fascinating if true but dangerous," Solas advises as I nod in agreement to his words.
"I know what I'm talking about. I helped develop this magic. When I was still his apprentice, it was pure theory. Alexius could never get it to work. What I don't understand is why he's doing it? Ripping time to shreds just to gain a few hundred lackeys," Dorian sighs as I agree with him. What is his motive?
"He didn't do it for them," Felix appears as we turn to the male.
"Took you long enough. Is he getting suspicious?" Dorian enquires, smirking at him.
"No, but I shouldn't have played the illness card. I thought he'd be fussing over me all day. My father's joined a cult. Tevinter's supremacists. They call themselves Venatori. And I can tell you one thing, whatever he's done for them, he's done it to get to you," Felix informs me.
"Why me?" I question puzzled by him.
"They're obsessed with you, but I don't know why. Perhaps because you survived the temple of sacred ashes?" Felix offers.
Perhaps…
"You can close the rifts. Maybe there's a connection? Or they see you as a threat?" Dorian offers as I agree seeing his idea possible.
"If the Venatori are behind these rifts or the breach in the sky they're even worse than I thought," Felix says to me.
"Why tell me? You're betraying your father?" I frown puzzled by his motive.
"For the same reason Dorian works against him," Felix answers simply.
"I love my father and I love my country. But this? Cults? Time magic? What he's doing now is madness, for his own sake you have to stop him," Felix reasons, almost pleading, begging making me sigh, feeling truly pitiful for the young son, just wishing to save his father, a trait I can relate to in a way.
"It would also be nice if he didn't rip a hole in time. There's ready a hole in the sky," Dorian comment, his tone playful trying to ease the doom like atmosphere surrounding the room.
"You want to save him from himself," I whisper in awe of him feeling horrible, to have to fight your father would be horrible, I couldn't harm my family, not now, not ever, not after that day…
"All this for me? And here I didn't get Alexius anything," I joke lightly trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere around the room, it's better than being a cry baby, heh…
"Send him a fruit basket everyone loves those…" Dorian offers, bringing a small smile to my lips.
"You know you're his target. Expecting the trap is the first step in turning it to your advantage. I can't stay in Redcliffe. Alexius doesn't know I'm here and I want to keep it that way for now. But whenever you're ready to deal with him, I'll be there. I want to be there. I'll be in touch," Dorian smiles turns to leave only to stop, smirking sassily in our direction.
"Oh and Felix? Try not to get yourself killed," Dorian smirks leaving.
"There are worse things than dying Dorian," Felix sighs, turning to leave and exiting the building, leaving us alone.