WARNINGS: Violence, gore and death.
Time slowed once more as I turned to meet our enemy. They were rushing at Ellana as she drew all the attention upon herself, unleashing her magic to its fullest. Flames danced around her, ice exploded from the ground and lightning flickered along her drawn blades. The soldiers meant to load the trebuchets snuck past while Ellana drew the beasts upon herself.
The Red Templars were all glowing, crimson eyes and snarls as they charged with swords drawn, shields before them, Venatori behind them. I stood there, my heart beating in a steady drum with the pounding of their feet on the ground. Ellana stood proud before them, a defiant yell on her lips as I heard Cullen's muffled shouts behind me in cadence with his fists pounding on the ice. His shouts turned to sobs and my heart broke.
Maker, guide my steps. Let my death be the last sacrifice. Let me find Eternity in your arms. Give me the strength, give me peace. Comfort Cullen, your child. Comfort them all. Shield Ellana that she may end this threat and save your children.
Their swords were almost upon her. I summoned a barrier around Ellana. Maker, help me. Help her. Please. Guide me, show me what to do. O Maker, hear my cry: Guide me through the blackest nights. Steel my heart against the temptations of the wicked. Make me to rest in the warmest places.
"Meira," Purpose's voice spoke beside me once more. "You are not alone. Remember what you can do; wield it upon them."
Taking my hand, we stepped through the Fade to meet our enemy. Together, we cut down the corrupted templars and Venatori. As Purpose kept the Fade open, mana pouring around me, I worked magic with little more than thoughts for effort.
Walls of ice erupted around us, throwing the Red Templars into the air where I shot them down with a barrage of fire arrows. Spikes of ice burst from the ground impaling the templars before they could move out of the way. Any who made it to me met my lightning blade which burned through flesh and armor. While I kept her hidden by shifting the Fade within their minds, Ellana cast a barrier upon me and maintained it. Purpose cut down the Venatori spellbinders, stopping them from interrupting my magic.
As more corrupted templars came, I stepped in and out of the Fade around them - no more than a ghost on the wind. Ice daggers plunged between weak spots in their armor, ending them before they knew where their enemy had gone. Those without helmets, I placed my fingers to their temples, rendering them dead at a touch.
Heaving in breaths as the first threat was ended, Ellana cursed behind me. She stalked to me, eyes full of rage and her face terrifying. "Meira? Fenedhis lasa. You really are made for each other, you know that? You and your fool of a shem. What in the Creator's names are you doing? Get back inside, get back to your man - if I die, you can take my place!"
"Don't you ever ask that of me," I threatened, glaring at her.
Ellana grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. "Meira! I have no intention of dying here today, but I knew he would. He was so bent on sacrificing himself. For you, for me, for us all - he wouldn't even try to find a way to make it. I would - I will- do everything in my power to make it back." She sighed heavily. "But if I didn't make it, I would've died knowing you were safe. That you would be happy. That the Inquisition would continue on with you taking my place."
"I could not let you die alone knowing I could have helped you," I shouted. "I could not lose you or Cullen."
"Then why didn't you seal me in with him? Come face them alone?" she snarled.
"Because you're right! This thing - this Elder One - will not stop for anything but you! It had to be you - Cullen just refused to admit it!" I shouted. "Because he knows how important you are to the Inquisition - to the world. But if I can ensure you come back - give you a chance - if I can -"
"Die in my stead? Leaving us both to mourn you?" She spit upon the ground. "To the Void with that, Meira." She rounded on Purpose, throwing a hand out towards him. "And who in the Void is that?"
Purpose gave a slight bow, bemused by our display. "Purpose, Herald. A spirit of the Fade, come to aid you and your sister for as long as I am able. Might I suggest we press on? You've made your choices, it's done - focus on the task at hand. More enemies are upon us."
Setting aside our argument, I gave a final look towards the Chantry. I could just make out Cullen's frame beyond the ice where he was on his knees, head and hands pressed against it. Feeling out to him, feeling him through the Fade, I spoke softly.
Go, Cullen. They need you. If the Maker wills it, I shall come back to you. I felt him shift, watched his silhouette as he slowly stood. He kept his hand on the ice for a few moments and then he was gone. I let out a breath and swallowed my tears before turning once more.
Sorrow gripped me as I took in the place that had begun to feel like home for the past few months - now nothing more than charred remains. The dead were everywhere. Anger burned in my chest and a darkness licked up my spine. He's gone. Let me out. I pushed the voice away.
Red Templars were rushing at us on all sides, a few Venatori among them. Just as before, I worked the Fade as if I had been doing it all my life. I hid Ellana, hid the soldiers until they were out of view while I maneuvered through our enemies like the wind. Templars and Venatori fell, their cohorts not knowing what killed them. The dragon roared above us, taking notice of us the more of our enemies we cut down. O Creator, see me kneel: For I walk only where You would bid me. Stand only in the places You have blessed. Sing only the words You place in my throat.
Pushing our way across the remains of Haven, I kept on the attack while Ellana defended. Purpose was at my side, fighting with a ferocity that mirrored Cullen's, and I could almost imagine it was him beside me. I took comfort in knowing he would live. I knew he would be devastated, angry, would blame himself, but he would live.
Cassandra would not let him falter, Rylen would help put him back together, the Inquisition would give him purpose and its people their support. So long as it was there, so long as they helped pull him up, he would recover. It would take time - far longer than I would want for him - but he would recover. Maker, comfort is only Yours to give - let him feel Your comfort.
Our enemies fell before us, no more than dry grass in the wake of a mighty fire. We would see this done; nothing and no one would stop us. Finally, we made it to the trebuchet. We found it loaded, but not aimed, the soldiers dead around the machine. As we appeared, the ground shook beneath our feet.
A red lyrium behemoth stalked out from behind the trebuchet, the creature even more massive than the one that had been at Therinfal. Hulking knights, horrors, archers, and the crystalline templars ran out before its slow strides. My heart pounded in my chest. Maker, help us. I grabbed Ellana and Fade stepped us to the trebuchet's wheel, which would allow Ellana to spin the base of it and aim it at the mountains directly above Haven.
"Turn the trebuchet," I ordered as I put her before it. "We'll handle them!"
Summoning a barrier around her, I took a fighting stance at her back, palming my staff as my eyes glared at our enemies. Purpose was beside me, but he flickered. "Are you with me?"
"For as long as I can," he murmured, his face serious. "But I do not have long."
"Do what you can, but I cannot fight them and a demon," I warned. "Go if you must." Let me out!
His gold eyes met mine. "If I go, there will only be so much mana for you."
The templars were closing in. I curled my lip at them. "I know."
"Then make this count," he growled.
As they came upon us, I slammed my staff into the ground. From where the blade broke into the dirt, ice raced towards them. It ripped through them, killing some and sending others flying. Arrows soared, but met only ice and barriers. Purpose stayed at my side, a bow in his hands where he knelt as he took down the horrors before they could emit the red lyrium gas.
I swung my staff around me, daggers of ice flying from the arcs of mana I created, tearing through armor and flesh. I plunged my staff into the ground again, freezing those crystalline templars solid. All the while, I heard the trebuchet turning, listened to Ellana as she grunted with the effort. Blood was turning the ice red as our enemies fell upon it, I heard their anguished cries as I killed them.
I tried to block it out, to remember that they were no more than monsters, to remember Minaeve, Sarah, Threnn - all those that had died at their hands. Yet, a piece of me knew these creatures had been human once - that they were in pain even as they fought us. All the more evident as the behemoth released a roar - no, a scream - that was nothing but agony and despair.
Let me out. Let me out! LET ME OUT! My Maker, know my heart: take from me a life of sorrow. Lift me from a world of pain. Judge me worthy of Your endless pride.
"Got it!" Ellana shouted.
In my distraction at the dark voice, I had not noticed the behemoth raising its arm - a giant club on the end of it instead of a hand. Too late, I worked my magic as it slammed down upon the ground. Red lyrium jutted out in the wake of where it hit, barreling towards us. I pushed Ellana out of the way with my mana, summoning an ice wall before me just as it hit.
The lyrium decimated the ice, shards of my own magic flying at me, cutting my face and blurring my vision. I moved to shield myself with a barrier, but too late as I felt the cold steel of a templars blade rammed into my side. I wailed out in agony as that blade cut through my leather armor, cloth of my tunic, my skin, my muscle and finally my organs. The red lyrium in the templar's veins giving them inhuman strength.
My magic faltered, revealing Ellana, my barriers and ice falling. I watched as they saw her, roaring at each other to seize the Herald, to take her down. Arrows flew at her, one finding its mark in her leg, another in her shoulder. That darkness howled within me at her pain, at their cruelty, at knowing we would not survive this - no matter Ellana's determination. I echoed that howl with a scream of my own.
As I screamed, I unleashed all of my magic, allowing the mana Purpose was pouring into me to flow freely instead of channeling it through my staff. I kept screaming and screaming as I felt it pulse from me painfully: ice, lightning, fire and blasts of sheer magic hit the templars like waves of the sea crashing against rocks. I heard Purpose shouting for me to stop, but I didn't listen. I felt out for their minds in the Fade and seized them, feeling them die one by one. Yes! YES!
In the wake of my anger, my fear at my own magic as I wielded it untethered and the sheer power I had unleashed, I watched as cracks spiderwebbed across the behemoth's crystalized flesh. The creature cried out. It's flesh continued to split until it eventually shattered apart. The templar that had once been was revealed for a moment before they, too, were eradicated. Purpose was shouting, so was Ellana, but I did not relent even as our enemies were ended.
That darkness was swallowing me, that voice curling around in my mind desperately trying to wrest control from me. It was no demon as I felt no pain. It felt as if it were a part of me. Just as much me as I was it. Yet it wanted control, whispered at me and I knew it was evil; was a darkness within me that I could not unleash.
The ground beneath me, Ellana near me, everything was soon to be in danger. No! With all my inner will, I forced that darkness back and slammed the Fade closed. It was gone as was Purpose, the mana he'd been pouring out cut off. At their loss, I fell to my knees in exhaustion. With horror, I took in what I had wrought upon our enemies.
I had torn them apart: mercilessly unleashing a grotesque mess of death upon them; and I had ended them all - singlehandedly. My Creator, judge me whole: Find me well within Your grace. Touch me with fire that I be cleansed. Tell me I have sung to Your approval. A few moments to take in what I had done, guilt gripping my heart, before I fell on my face in the dirt.
My mana was not entirely spent, but the energy the Fade had given me was gone, my physical being utterly drained. I had not healed my wound in the craze of defending Ellana - of fighting off that inner darkness - the hot blood gushing down my stomach evidence enough. With a cry of pain, I pulled my hand up to try and heal the wound, but before I could, I saw the dragon fly above us to arc in the sky, roaring as it did. It's great wings flapped before it dived straight for us.
With effort, feeling my severed muscles try to contract, I shouted, "Ellana, run! Draw it away from the trebuchet!"
She yelped as she struggled to stand, mewling sounds coming from her as she forced herself to run, dragging her injured leg. I pushed myself to move, but the tear in my side seized me with such pain that I could not. Instead of trying to heal it - knowing I didn't have the time, knowing that if I tried without complete focus I could end my life faster - I froze it, numbing the pain.
Forcing myself to my knees, panting as sweat dripped down my skin and my head spun with the blood loss, I crawled towards the trebuchet. Fire rained down from the dragon and too late did I see the pile of incendiaries stacked nearby. The dragon's fire set them ablaze, causing them to explode a second later. I was flung back, feeling the heat sear my exposed skin before I fell upon the ground. A nauseating crunch issued in my wrist and I blacked out for a moment.
As I roused, I forced myself to turn onto my side, freezing my new injuries before again crawling on my hands and knees to the trebuchet. I looked to the trees above Haven, still no signal. Ellana was on the ground, too far for me to reach her, but I watched as she sat up. The arrow shafts had been broken off, the tips still in her leg and shoulder. I thank the Maker that they were not red lyrium or she would've been lost to me already. She stood, trying not to put too much pressure on her wounded leg, as her eyes were studying something within the flames. I looked towards them and watched in horror as a towering figure loomed out of the fire.
The creature was unlike anything I had ever seen. The height of it was unnatural - as unnatural as the rest of its being. Flesh had been torn and rearranged around red lyrium that sprouted from its chest and face. A face that had once been human, but was no longer. Clawed hands dangled from arms of little more than bone covered in skin. A robe of black had fused with its flesh, covering only part of its head, its shoulders and its legs. What was not covered, was marred by red lyrium. I had to resist vomiting as the more I studied it, the more it appeared that its skin was merely stretched over the lyrium - as if the skin had been removed and put back on.
Yet for all its monstrosity, its eyes were human as they stared hatefully at Ellana. It paused, but remained within the flames, unaffected by them. It's focus entirely upon my sister, I willed the Fade to hide me as I agonizingly pulled myself upon the trebuchet. I knew I would have to choose between hiding myself or healing my wound - I did not have enough mana for both. Rolling upon the deck, I paused to heave in a few breaths, ignoring the blurring of my vision and dizziness as the world spun above me.
The dragon landed upon the ground, shaking everything with its mighty weight before it ran at Ellana. It faced her down, emitting a guttural sound at her before it stood tall, flaring its wings and throwing its head back. My ears rang at the ear splitting roar it unleashed into the sky.
The dragon, too, was nauseating to look upon. It looked dead - its flesh rotting where red lyrium hadn't claimed; and it carried a stench - the stench of death, decay and festering wounds. I gagged on the smell, my stomach flipping even as the pain from my gaping wound screamed at me, the numbing effect of the ice quickly wearing off, but blood was no longer pouring from it.
"Enough!" the creature shouted as he pushed Ellana back with magic and silenced the dragon. "Pretender! You toy with forces beyond your ken, no more." Its voice was old and held the promise of death as it stared Ellana down.
"What are you?" Ellana demanded, her eyes blazing as she stared the creature down. "Why are you doing this?"
"Mortals beg for truths they cannot have; it is beyond what you are - what I was," it answered. "Know me, know what you have pretended to be. Exalt the Elder One. The will that is Corypheus." As he spoke, I could feel him pouring magic into his words, compelling Ellana to heed what he said. Blood magic. He pointed a clawed finger at her. "You will kneel."
Ellana only straightened, jutting her chin forward. "I will not. Whatever you are, I do not fear you."
"Words mortals often hurl at the darkness. Once they were mine. They are always lies," Corypheus smirked, "You will always resist. It matters not." His clawed hand held up a strange looking orb. As he looked at the orb, a noise sounded from it as raw power pulsed out - raw magic - of a deep, crimson red. "I am here for the Anchor. The process of removing it begins now."
Corypheus raised a hand at Ellana, hurling magic at her as within his palm the same magic emanating from the orb flared. Ellana gasped as the Mark sparked to life, searing up her arm. "It's your fault 'Herald', you interrupted a ritual years in the planning and instead of dying you stole its purpose."
Corypheus increased the power of his magic, Ellana clutching at her arm as she panted in pain. I kept glancing at the tree line, waiting to see the signal, but none came. Did we miss it? Maker, please, neither of us has much more to give.
"I do not know how you survived," Corypheus admitted, "but what marks you as 'touched', what you flail at rifts, I crafted to assault the very heavens."Once more he pulled even more magic, the Mark blazing green and red as Corypheus poured his own magic into it, trying to carve it from Ellana's body. Ellana sank to her knees and wailed in pain. The dragon stalked closer, growling as it's huge maw opened, waiting for its master to give permission to devour her. Corypheus stood amongst the flames, them growing larger as his rage boiled. "And you used the Anchor to undo my work? The gall."
He curled his ruined lip at Ellana as she writhed in pain, falling prostrate before him as she clutched her wrist. The light of the warring magics danced on Ellana's face, her features contorted with her agony. Despite her pain, despite her panting for breath, she lifted herself just enough from the ground to meet the creature's stare with fierce eyes. "What is this thing meant to do?"
"It is meant to bring certainty where there is none," he stated as he cocked his head at her. "For you, the certainty that I would always come for it."
"Then take it!" Ellana shouted, sweat dripping down her face at the pain. "I never wanted this. I didn't ask for any of this!"
"Mortals have always cried thus," Corypheus mused. "Praise me, for I would end the silence that answers. They spout that 'Andraste' granted you that boon," his twisted face pulled into a smirk once more. "I see you do not believe thus as you decorate your face with those heathen gods. Oh, but to those who do, do they not understand that their Lady must have wished me to kill you? To kill you all? For her 'boon' is a beacon I cannot let escape. Your impudence an offense I cannot see unpunished."
He snarled as he met Ellana in two great strides and wrenched her up by her marked arm. She cried out in anguish as I saw her shoulder and arm shift at an odd angle, lengthening unnaturally. As she sobbed in pain, he brought her to his face. "I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the old gods of the Empire in person." He brought her closer. "I found only chaos and corruption; dead whispers. For a thousand years I was confused. No more. I have gathered the will to return under no name, but my own. To champion withered Tevinter and correct this blighted world." He grabbed her and held her by her face, dropping her arm as she shrieked with pain. "Where is your pantheon? Where is their Maker? Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods and it was empty."
Finished he hurled Ellana at the trebuchet. She smacked it with a sharp yelp of pain and the crack of bones. A little blood splattered where her head hit and trailed as she slid down to the deck beside me. Her dazed eyes met mine, "Meira," she whispered, "Make him see whatever will keep him distracted. We can't stay here. If we don't move now, we won't make it as the mountain falls. Use your magic to push the lever."
"The Anchor is permanent," Corypheus spit. "You have spoilt it with your stumbling."
He started to approach us and I knew I had to act. Releasing the magic that had been keeping the ice around my wounds in place, I willed the Fade around us to shift. Ellana hauled me to my feet as I let out a silent scream of pain. The split in my side tore more as she slung my arm around her shoulders. I felt the hot blood pouring down my hip, my leg all the way to pool in my boot as she pressed her arm to my waist.
She yelped in pain as my weight pulled on her obviously dislocated shoulder and broken collarbone, the arrows still embedded in her leg and shoulder burrowing further as she helped me walk. We came to the edge of the deck, the pain was nearly impossible to endure as she lowered me down to the ground. Clumsily climbing down beside me, she scooped me up again, darkness closing in on the edge of my vision as I found it hard to take in air.
O Maker, hear my cry: Seat me by Your side in death. Make me one within Your glory. And let the world once more see your favor. I didn't know if I was speaking the Chant aloud or in my mind, but Ellana hushed me. I felt as she pressed her hand into my side, trying to heal my injury, but not fast enough. Instead of seeing all of that and our arduous progress away from the trebuchet, I willed Corypheus to see Ellana taking a stand against him as she drew one of her swords.
Corypheus and his dragon stalked closer to her, the dragon awaiting his order. "So be it, I will begin again. Find another way to give this world the nation - and god - it requires."
She was dragging us, but to where? Towards what? There was no escape and yet she moved, believed we would escape this. Before us, I noticed a sign and fortifications around a hole in the ground as my eyes began to blur. The meeting in the War Room - now feeling an eon ago - came back to me. Cullen had been talking about some of the workers falling into a mining shaft near this trebuchet. Leliana had wanted him to keep it open, but to fortify it; Josephine wanted the workers warned.
The mine shaft. It was an escape. So impossible to believe that it was there, that it had opened before all of this - opened before we would need it most. That Iwould know of it and would be with Ellana to be able to tell her.
Though all before me is shadow, yet shall the Maker be my guide. I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond. For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light and nothing that He has wrought shall be lost.
"Ellana," I panted and with my last bit of physical strength, I pointed to it. "There's a...mine shaft..." I was loosing the ability to move my legs. She would make it, she would live, but I was slowing her down. "Ellana...leave me..."
"No!" she sobbed, pulling at me. "We make it together or we both die. I will not leave you!"
"Ellana…you…must," I collapsed to the ground, unable to breathe properly, to move, wanting nothing more than to close my eyes and sleep.
"And you, I will not suffer even an unknowing rival," Corypheus snarled at the projection I was creating. I was pouring everything I had left into it, even as I felt my body giving out. "You. Must. Die."
Ellana twisted. She must have seen the signal above the tree line because she gasped out, "They made it. Now. Set it off now!"
As Corypheus charged Ellana's projection, I willed her to face him down. "Your arrogance blinds you. Good to know," she chuckled without humor. "If I'm dying, it's not today!"
The last words a promise, I released my grip on the Fade and with the last of my mana, willed the trebuchet lever to move. As if far away, I heard the machine sound as it shifted to hurl the projectile at the mountain; listened as Ellana sobbed, pushing and pulling me closer to her one chance at escape - at survival.
"Ellana…let me…go," I murmured, my lips barely moving.
I knew she was dragging me, but my mind was becoming comfortably light. All sensation, all pain ebbing away. Darkness coming upon me, beckoning like a warm bath. Through my darkening vision, I could just make out a few stars in the sky. In the long hours of the night when hope has abandoned me, I will see the stars and know Your Light remains.
Ellana would make it. I had done what I was meant to - I had stayed by her side, protected her and found a way for her to live. I could pass into death at peace. A part of me mourned for what I would miss with Cullen, but I knew he would be alright. That the Maker would comfort him. I felt that darkness beckoning, cloaking my vision.
The Veil holds no uncertainty for her, and she will know no fear of death, for the Maker shall be her beacon and her shield, her foundation and her sword. Ellana would live, she would lead the Inquisition, she would fulfill her purpose. As I had fulfilled mine. Meira! Purpose shouted somewhere in my mind. Meira, just hold on!
"Meira! Stay with me!" Ellana sobbed, her voice miles away. I could hear her, but I could see nothing, could feel nothing. "Meira! Don't leave me. Meira! Stay with me! Meira!"
The mountain roared as it barreled towards us. The dragon shrieked, it's giant wings pounding against the sky as it flew away. I heard Ellana and Purpose screaming for me, heard Cullen crying out. It all had a strange quality to it, as if I were in the Fade instead of the waking world. Yet, everything was quieting as I felt myself slipping away.
Then air rushed past and bones broke as I tumbled down. With a smack and a sickening crunch, I hit cold, hard ground. I felt my heart slow in its beats, my blood feeling cold as it seeped out of my wound.
Let my death be the last sacrifice. Let me find Eternity in your arms. For you are the fire at the heart of the world, and comfort is only yours to give. With those final words, I surrendered to the warm embrace of the darkness awaiting me.
That's the end of Part One, everyone! The story will continue after the New Year, going to take a break for a couple of weeks.
Thank you to everyone that has read this fanfic thus far, to everyone that has followed and left faves and reviews - they're the only encouragement I get to keep writing!
See you all next year ;)