Groaning, I awaken to the ice cold shiver of the area as well as the repeated sound of slithering liquid dripping down from the ceiling to hit the washy wet floor of stone before where I lay. My nose winces at the disgusting stench of iron, sewer and rust. My ears hear the echo of water descending down and being absorbed into the pools of water below.
Where am I? Blinking, I force myself to stand, my eyes adjusting to the familiar yet alien territory I am in, my eyes widen when I find Dorian with me, at least I'm not alone however the others are not in sight, I hope they are alright. Worried, my green hues scan the prison finding no sign of them, where are we? Where are the others? What did Alexius do?
Suddenly, my ears perk up at the sound of footsteps and we both turn to find two Venatori guards waiting for us, armed and ready to finish us off. Not today or wherever or whenever we are, ju-just not now!
Quickly, I draw my staff, Dorian following my actions as he focuses on healing or attacks while I focus on attacking more, hmm from what I've seen he's more of a fighting mage than a supporting one, out of all the mages we got, Solas is the more supportive mage, the white mage as Lydia called it while Dorian and Vivienne are more fragile, like glass cannons as Lydia decided to call me back at the tower.
Eventually, we defeat the guards, I'll admit it was hard considering the small space of the room and the fact that we had to practically keep running to not get knocked out by them; usually we had Cassandra distract the guards while we fought from afar but sadly no warrior to help us there. I just hope we can find the others…
"Interesting, it's probably not what Alexius intended. The rift must have moved us towards…the closest compounds of arcane energy," Dorian kneels down inspecting his surroundings as I join him.
"The last thing I remember we were in the caste hall," I recall frowning.
"Let's see if we're still in the castle it isn't oh! Of course it's simply not where it's when! Alexius used the amulet as a focus, it moved us through time," Dorian informs me as my eyes widen in utter awe.
"Amazing! How could that be? How far? To think time travelling is possible now, magic is amazing," I whisper in awe and glee.
"Those are excellent questions we'll have to find out, let's look around and see where the rift took us. Then we can figure out how to get back," Dorian reasons. I nod, calming down from the glee, I will admit this is amazing but still I need to focus on right now, on how to get out of here and hopefully get some answers to my excellent questions.
"Don't worry, I'm here I'll protect you," Dorian reassures me bringing a small smile to my lips at the kind guy.
We continue marching through the sloppy waves of water my eyes widening at the sharp jagged icicles like objects of red lyrium all over the place.
"Alexius has made quite a dreadful mess of this place hasn't he?" Dorian brings up.
"In this part of the castle," I add as well eyeing the area.
"It was currency the tackiest of castles I've ever seen, this is not a improvement," Dorian huffs.
"Nothing like a prison break to start some spring cleaning right?" I joke lightly smiling as Dorian releases a wry chuckle from my joke.
"Indeed," he agrees and we continue on our way exploring this strange post-apocalyptic looking future of ours.
Calmly, we continue our way forward, exploring and defeating bad guys, however after much walking and talking about all sorts, I stop in my tracks hearing the faint echoes of a familiar song and familiar voice.
"Three hundred bottles of beer on the wall, three hundred bottles of beer…take one down, pass it around…"
"Bull!" Quickly, I follow the source of the tired deep voice to find in a small cell a familiar Qunari but he looks…sickly, his body has a ruby red aura surrounding him, a familiar shade to the corner of his cell, a huge chunk of…red lyrium oh no.
"Bull!" I call out relieved to see him only to falter at his ill deathly change to his once lively form.
"You're not dead? You're supposed to be dead. There was a burn on the ground and everything," Iron Bull frowns as I peer into his one good eye, my eyes widening at the red hue in it.
"Alexius didn't kill us. His spell sent us through time. This is our future," Dorian informs Bull who only scowls at him.
"Well it's my present. And in my past, I definitely saw you both die," Bull answers back.
"We're going to fight Alexius and see about fixing all of this you coming?" I question, if I ask about the lyrium and sickly state it may make him angry.
"Why? You want to see what other tricks he's learned?" Iron Bull remarks bitterly making me frown at the coldness in his tone.
"If we find him. We might be able to get back to our own time and stop all this before it happens. Exciting yes?" Dorian explains to Bull who only scowls in return.
"Alexius isn't the one you need to worry about. It's his "Elder One." He killed the empress of Orlais with his little pet," Bull scowls spitting out the words making me frown.
"His pet?" I question but it fall to deaf ears.
"He used the confusion to launch an invasion of the south. The army was all demons; some were once people now just monsters. You ever fought a demon army? I don't recommend it," My eyes widen when Bulls voice echoes, like a demon.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help, thanks to me you all suffered and had to endure this," I apologise grimly, feeling a wave of sorrow, anger and guilt for my failure.
"Demon. Army. Shit… you were lucky you died early. Let's move, no time like the present," Bull states and I simply nod, still feeling the dagger of guilt hit me in the chest, once more as we continue on our way to find the others.
Thankfully, the fights have gotten easier with bull as our tank back, distracting the guards while we fire from afar.
Focused, we enter a chain of prison cells, my eyes narrow when I catch a figure sitting down cross-legged however I sadly recognise the ruby red glow emitting from the female figure.
"Cassandra!" I gasp to see her, quickly, she stands, her ruby red hinted eyes widening to see me and Dorian.
"You've returned!? Can it be? Has Andraste given us another chance? Maker forgive me I failed you. I failed everyone. The end must truly be upon us if the dead have come to life," Cassandra exclaims mournful, another jab from the dagger this me but I ignore the pain. "You look wounded maybe we can help," I turn to Dorian who sadly shakes his head.
"Nothing you can do can help me now. I'll be with the maker soon," Cassandra sighs, looking almost relieved at the idea of death. Maker…
"Alexius sent us forward in time. If we find him we may be able to return to the present," Dorian informs Cassandra. "Then…can you make it so none of this took place," Cassandra stands up approaching us, hope in her echoed demonic voice. "Alexius will pay for harming all of you," I promise glaring, enraged at the torture my friends had to endure for so long…
"Maker guide us all," Cassandra whispers as we all nod. Maker, please bless us and be on our side in this fight, please…
Calmly, we continue our way forward, the dripping sound of the water above raining down on us now and again or the sloshing sound of water pouring down from the huge leakages above on the ceiling, echoes in the empty and abandoned prison, each of fighting and protecting one another in order so we all can face Alexius and get revenge for what he's done to my friends….
Frowning, I stop in my tracks when I hear a faint groan from another room and decide to investigate the cell, my eyes widening at the huge bulge of a familiar ruby red shard of red lyrium. I peer inside only to gasp when I see a battered, beaten and exhausted Fiona looking on the brink of death as she lays on the huge piece of red lyrium, her cell having no space to lie down comfortable thanks to a shard of red hitting or scraping her.
"You're…alive? How?" Fiona calls out, my eyes widening at how deep and demonic her voice has become compared to the others, red light is emitting from her body, matching her ruby red eyes, holding hints of the once strong person that she was. "I saw you…disappear…into the rift," Fiona groans out pained as she stares blankly at a stone wall, the only bit of her cell that isn't red lyrium but it looks like she's been pushed into a corner, both physically and metaphorically.
"What happened to you?" I whisper in horror at the sight of my role model now morphing, practically fused together with the red lyrium.
"Red Lyrium…it's a disease. The longer you are near it….eventually…you become this. Then they mine your corpse for more," Fiona hoarsely weakly explains, her once strong voice wobbles and turns into a hissing fit as I wince spotting a shard of ruby red lyrium moving, trapping her inside the cell and slowly but surely converting her into it, it's too late for her…I feel the urge to scream, cry, and strike at the red lyrium, desperate to stop the disease from spreading and completely slowly devouring her, who knows how much she has lost thanks to the years gone by…
"Can you tell us the date? It's very important," Dorian pleads to the grand enchanter.
"Harvestmere….9:42 dragon," Fiona croaks out making my eyes widen.
"A year that's all it took for this chaos to happen?" I blurt out in shock and paranoia, how powerful is this elder one to accomplish so much in one single year? Can we truly take on someone this powerful, this influential, this…
"Nine forty two? Then we've missed an entire year," Dorian points out the obvious, snapping me out of my panic filled thoughts, forcing me to push them aside to focus on now…
"We have to go back, stop this madness stop this painful future and save the others from this horrid future!" I explain my voice trembling in both anger and guilt for my absence, I missed so much I could have saved them, I could have helped I could have….
"You must…beware. Alexius…serves the Elder One. More powerful…than the Maker…No one challenges him and lives. He created…something that is both living but dead…that thing…no longer holds…a shred of humanity, beware…of it as well as the Elder One…" Fiona warns me wincing in pain from her staggered breathes.
"It? Who…?" I trail off not wanting got cause her further pain; I can tell he's in a lot of pain from the shuddering to the whimpering's from merely speaking to us. I push my curiosity aside.
"I will do all I can to make sure this future never happens," I promise Fiona bringing a small sad smile to her lips. "Thank…you. I…apologise I did not live up to your expectations…" Fiona hisses slowly closing her eyes as I sombrely nod.
"I'm sorry I expected too much, you are still human no matter the origin," I bow deeply to her bringing a small bitterly smile to her lips.
"Our only hope is to find the amulet that Alexius used to send us here. If it still exists, I can use it to reopen the rift at the exact spot we left. Maybe," Dorian summarises the plan.
"Good," Fiona says.
"I said maybe it might also turn us into paste," Dorian warns us.
"You must try, your spymaster Leliana…she is here. Find her, quickly before…the Elder one…learns you're here," Fiona winces and finally passes out, making my eyes widen at the passing and news of Leliana.
"Fiona, may the Maker take you by his side," I whisper in a prayer then turn to Dorian nodding.
Leliana's here, don't worry Leliana we will find you too!