Author's Note at the end of chapter
Chapter 3
Thedas – Haven
Cassandra Pentaghast, Seeker of Truth and Right Hand of the Divine, scowled heavily as she watched small groups of mages intently, every nerve ending fired up and prepared for something, anything, to happen. She knew that Divine Justinia wanted nothing but peace between Mages, Templars, and the People, but she did not trust anyone present not to use this as an excuse to try and assassinate the Divine for a third time.
"Your scowl is scaring the baby mages."
Glaring down at the dwarf walking a few steps behind her, Cassandra let out a disgusted noise as she redirected her stare at some of the Chantry sisters that had ventured too close for her comfort. Most of the sisters here were only trying to grasp at power and gain the power to raise their own station. While she understood the necessity of their presence, she still resented them.
"Seriously though, if your scowl gets any darker people are going to start going up in flames whenever you look at them."
"Shut up Varric."
Smirking at the tension and growl present in the woman's voice, Varric Tethras gave himself a pat on the back as she continued to drag him towards the small town beneath the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Hopefully he could keep the Chantry and its hounds off Hawke's trail long enough for her and broody to get far enough away that they would be untouchable. Poking at the sleeping bear known as Cassandra Pentaghast was also a perk, she was so tightly wound that egging her on and leading her in circles was the highlight of his day.
"Divine Justinia is currently in a meeting, once she is done I will bring you forth to tell your story, you can wait here until then."
Pushing the grumbling dwarf into a room, she motioned for a couple of scouts to guard the door and reminded them that if they allowed the rogue to leave that room, they would be serving penance with her, on the training grounds, at dawn. Stalking off, Cassandra looked around for a certain mage that she was hoping would be attending the Conclave, while they were currently separated due to the Templar/Mage war and while she was bound to Divine Justinia, she wanted to make sure that he was safe.
"Well, if it isn't the prettiest Seeker this side of the Frostback Mountains."
"I'm the only Seeker this side of the Frostback Mountains."
Smiling Cassandra allowed Regalyan to pull her into a fierce embrace, inhaling deeply she closed her eyes as the scent of pine, elfroot, and soot filled her lungs. The scent was so unique to Regalyan and every time he was near, it brought her a measure of peace and comfort.
"I didn't know if you were going to be here." Cassandra confessed as she pulled back slightly.
"I wouldn't miss this chance to show the world that not all mages are power hungry monsters that they label us as." Regalyan shot back.
Wrinkling her nose Cassandra pulled back completely and looked the taller male over once more and took in the tattered robes, the longer than usual hair, and the dark shadows underneath his eyes. This war had been harder on the mages, they weren't used to fending for themselves, they really had no safe haven because so many feared their magic. While she understood the want and need to follow your own path, many mages were just too easily swayed towards darker magics and often allowed power to block out their common sense.
"Besides I'm here to represent the mages in place of the Grand Enchanter." He added as an afterthought.
Startled, Cassandra just stared at the man before her as his words sank in. She thought he was only here to reassure the younger mages that no one would be hurting them. The thought of Regalyan being in the middle of the argument and having to deal with the Templars without her there to help, she tightened her hold on his arms as her mind raced through the worst case scenarios.
"Why isn't Grand Enchanter Fiona here, is she not the leader of the Rebel Mages?"
"She thought that this might be a trap and the Lord Seeker sent someone to represent him as well, besides it's not unusual for people in positions of power to send representatives for those first few meetings."
Grunting in disgust at the entire political maelstrom, Cassandra could only bare her teeth at the idea that the innocents that were supposed to be protected were now responsible for the care of hundreds, if not thousands, of mages. It didn't help that many mages did not want to tear down the circles, they were scared of the world outside their towers and how easy it was for someone to put down a mage and just claim that the mage was attacking innocents or practicing blood magic for the authorities and the Chantry to turn a blind eye.
"Cass, listen I have to get up to the Temple for this meeting, why don't we get something to eat once I get back, I think there's a lot we need to talk about."
Nodding Cassandra watched, helpless, as the one man who understood her, after her brother, walked away into a fight that she wasn't able to help or fight alongside him. Turning she looked for something to distract herself from her thoughts and found the Left Hand of the Divine watching her from a small shadowed alcove near the door to the "War Room".
"So that is the famous Regalyan D'Marcall, he's as handsome as the rumors say." Leliana whispered as Cassandra drew closer.
"Enough Leliana, are there any issues that need my attention?"
Shaking her head, Leliana motioned for the older woman to follow her through a hidden door that was behind one of the heavy drapes. Knowing that even if they were only discussing simple matters, others were always listening and while it might not seem like important information, words could always be changed to fit the desired outcome.
"So far the main force of the Templars have remained in Val Royeaux and the Rebel Mages have been allowed to stay in Redcliff, King Alistair is very sympathetic to their plight, but some of the locals are not as happy to have them there."
"Not surprising, they fear that another mage will cause the same level of destruction as seen in Kirkwall."
"Also, we still have no leads on either the Hero of Ferelden or the Champion, wherever they are they have made sure to stay out of sight, even my scouts have had trouble finding any solid leads. Added to that, there are small groups of rogue Templars that have begun to attack anyone that they come across, those captured claim it is because anyone could be a mage or a mage sympathizer."
Leliana pulled out some reports from her spies and the extensive network she had set up while under the service of Divine Justinia. Spreading the reports out on the table, Leliana motioned for Cassandra to come closer, explaining about the various rumors and how the common folk were reacting throughout Thedas to the news of Kirkwall and the dissolution of the circles. There were several messages from the royal courts, in Nevarra and Val Royeaux, most were proclaiming their disbelief that the Divine had yet to call for an exalted march on the mages. Hours passed as the two went over the threat reports and Cassandra sighed more than once as multiple messengers appeared, carrying more reports from around Thedas.
"The people of Rivain are up in arms over the Templars and the Chantry, apparently a rogue group of Templars attacked a small group of Seers, none of which survived the encounter, and the royal family is calling for the heads of those involved with the altercation." Leliana announced as she read the latest reports, frowning at the severity of the threats.
Cassandra sighed loudly and gathered up a pile of various reports as a loud boom echoed through the air. Looking at each other, they both turned to the door and ran through, racing for the entrance of the Chantry pushing past confused and shouting people. Bursting through the door, they were thrown back by a wave of air as the shattering sound of stone exploding tore through the air.
Pushing to her feet, Cassandra continued to push through the waves of people until she was finally outside and discovered multiple bodies littering the ground around the Chantry, as far as she could see they were still alive, just dazed and scared. Turning she found a large green cloud rising above where the Temple of Sacred Ashes was supposed to be…supposed to be…where was the Temple!
"Leliana, grab as many soldiers as you can, something has happened at the Temple, we need to find out what happened!" Cassandra shouted unable to take her eyes off the green cloud.
"Seeker, what's going on?"
"Varric, get back in the Chantry!"
"The Temple of Sacred Ashes is gone, there's nothing left, everything's gone!"
Turning at the yell, Cassandra ran over to a pilgrim that had come with a large mass of innocents to get the blessing of Justinia. Grabbing the man by the shoulders she heaved him to his feet and shook him slightly to gain his attention.
"What do you mean that the temple is gone?"
"There was a bright light and then everything exploded, it happened so fast, there wasn't any screaming, they died so fast."
Releasing the shocked man to one of the Chantry healers, Cassandra ran back into the Chantry and grabbed her sword and shield. Checking that her armor was ready, she raced out again, yelling at some of the shell shocked soldiers to follow her, she made her way to the temple. Dodging around more shocked and catatonic bodies, she just continued to run towards the source of the disturbance, ignoring the yells of those trying to keep up with her, she covered the distance from Haven to the temple in record time. Climbing the last of the stairs she found nothing but destruction and death where a place of peace once stood.
"Spread out, look for survivors, Leliana come with me we need to find out how this happened!" Cassandra ordered as everyone spread out and cries of horror rent the air as they found bodies frozen in fear and pain killed so fast that they probably didn't feel anything.
"It doesn't look like anyone survived, if this was supposed to be an assassination attempt, why take out the entire conclave?" one of the scouts wandered shifting through the ashes trying to find any clues.
"They probably wanted to completely disrupt the peace talks, lots of people profit from war, but I don't know how they would manage something this big." Another answered the theories bouncing from scout to soldier, each idea more outrageous than the last, but they were the only theories that anyone had.
"Sister Nightingale, Lady Cassandra, we found someone alive!"
Running in the direction of the shout, Cassandra and Leliana found a large group of people surrounding a body, long black hair, pale skin, the mysterious woman appeared to be a noble. Cassandra let Leliana move the woman around, at the moment she was too enraged not to do permanent damage and they needed this woman alive to understand what hand happened in the temple.
"She's alive, but look at this." Leliana announced holding up the woman's arm to show everyone around the green light emanating from the woman's hand, it was the same exact shade as the green cloud that was swirling in the sky.
"She caused this!"
"Kill her!"
"She came out of the fade!"
Everyone stopped shouting when that statement rose above the crowds, turning they found an elven mage standing before them, eyes locked on the woman. Rising to her feet, Cassandra drew her sword and advanced upon the elf, sure that he was part of the reason the Divine was gone.
"Explain yourself."
"Before you arrived, a tear in the fade appeared and she fell out." he explained, the simplicity of his statement was not helping her nerves or his position.
"He's right, Lady Cassandra, and I saw another woman standing behind her!"
Turning to the scout Cassandra found a large group saying the same, the woman appeared from the fade, with what looked like another woman that had been standing behind her, and someone was murmuring the name Andraste. Disgusted at the thought of this woman being an innocent she turned back to Leliana, who was watching the proceedings with interested eyes.
"We need to get her to a healer, if she dies here then we might never discover what happened to the temple."
Unhappy with the logic, but knowing that Leliana was thinking much more clearly than she was, Cassandra deferred to her logic and motioned for a couple of soldiers to carry the woman back to Haven. Looking at the elven mage, she motioned for him to follow as well, best to keep all unknowns together, it wouldn't do to have those responsible wandering Thedas.
"She will need a healer."
"If you are asking if I am proficient in the healing arts, the answer is somewhat, I can keep her alive, hopefully, and my knowledge of the fade can help you with the mark on her hand."
Eyes narrowing, Cassandra motioned for the apostate to walk in front of her, the mage was an unknown and during this time, the unknown was dangerous. She motioned for one of Leliana's people over and whispered for them to find out as much about the mage as they could. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't allowing the one responsible for this catastrophe free rein of the camp.
"By the way, my name is Solas, if introductions are allowed."
"They are not, focus on the girl, your only concern is her survival, should she perish, you will follow shortly."
Nodding, Solas focused his attention back on the unknown woman, she appeared to be sleeping peacefully, though the pulsing of the mark might have been evidence to the contrary. Reaching out with his magic, he caressed the mark and felt it pull away from him, frowning he tried again and felt a small backlash of power slap against his skin. Schooling his face quickly, he rubbed his wrist and noticed that a red rash was starting to appear where the slap had connected.
'This shouldn't be possible, the mark is part of the orb, the orb belongs to me, so I should be able to control the mark to a degree, even if it is connected to another being.'
As they entered Haven, the soldiers were directed to the healer's cabin, Solas followed not wanting the woman out of his sight for any length of time. The human healers, while effective, were not the most reliable, they were too easily dissuaded from allowing mages to help. The healer was already yelling orders and quickly turned to him, ready to either throw him out or order him about.
"Right, you're a mage I take it, quick introductions I'm Aedan, do you know what's wrong with her?"
"There wasn't time at the temple to check and see what the source of the problem was, but I theorize that the mark on her hand is the source of any pain."
"Right, where is that elfroot!"
Chuckling Solas took his place on the other side of the bed and began to pull on what healing knowledge he had. He wasn't classically trained as a healer, but he was able to keep those under his care alive. The human healer was still yelling for supplies and pushing the soldiers around as they took up precious space.
"Alright, keep doing whatever you're doing, since she doesn't have any external injuries, I'm going to assume it's all internal, get her to drink this." Aedan growled as he continued to mix more potions and salves.
Deferring to the human for the time being, Solas allowed himself to be ordered around. This allowed him to think about the circumstances as to how this woman had managed to obtain his mark, who she was, where she came from, and if she would survive being marked by ancient magic. He didn't have high hopes for the woman, all evidence pointed to her dying a slow painful death, after all mortals were never meant to house the power of gods.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hours Earlier, Camp Half-Blood, Earth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Percy glared at the strawberry field, she had been forced to take a break, by both Chiron and the Gods, from training and leave the training grounds all together. According to Chiron, she was in danger of collapsing from all the training that she was being put through. He had contacted the Gods and informed them of her decline in health and they had agreed to give her a few days off from training. She had argued that she needed to be prepared, but Chiron had countered that she wouldn't be prepared if she collapsed and died due to exhaustion.
'There might be another war coming and they're scared that I'm going to faint when I step on the battle field.'
Kicking a pinecone, she ventured closer to the forest and while she wanted to dive in and fight a couple of monsters to lower her rising stress levels, she knew better. Chiron's disappointed stare was on par with kicking puppies and drowning newborn kittens, he had specifically told her not to start any fights or participate in any fights for the rest of the day. Even Clarisse had spoken up and War Head loved to fight, she had pointed out that while she loved to fight, she knew her limits. Something that Percy was still learning apparently. Katie had also expressed her concerns, so here she was in the strawberry fields, doing nothing, bored out of her mind.
"Maybe Blackjack would like to go for a ride."
Turning on her heel, she came face to chest with a tall figure, that she knew hadn't been there before. Jumping back, she dropped into one of her Jiu-Jitsu stances, the male was unknown to her and due to his sudden appearance she knew he wasn't mortal, so that left God, Titan, or other.
Taking in the unknown man's appearance, she was leaning more towards God. Tall, well over six feet, he was all muscle and power, each time he shifted she noticed that he was able to keep complete control over his movements. Add in the pure white hair, red eyes, and maniac grin, she almost thought that it was Ares in another form. But this person just oozed power, more power than the God of War had, probably even more power than Zeus had.
"Peace, daughter of Poseidon, I am not here to harm you, I am here to guide you."
Snorting at the weak attempt to appear harmless, Percy continued to hold her stance while inching back, away from the man. If she could get to Chiron, Clarissa, or any other camper, she would be fine, this man seemed more intent to keep her alone, not harm her.
"Looks like we will have to do this the hard way then."
Lifting his arm, the man froze Percy where she stood, looking at the wide eyed panic showing in her eyes, he walked forward and placed his forehead against hers.
"Calm down, breathe, I was truthful when I said I don't mean you any harm, but unfortunately I cannot take the time to calm all your fears, we have a schedule to keep."
Passing his hand over her eyes, Percy felt the world drop out from under her, making her incredibly nauseous, and when he lifted his hand, she found herself in a marble room, with two other women. One was similar to the man, divine power emanated from her body. The other appeared mortal, she was much older, her hair made up into horns and red armor encasing her body.
"Greetings Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, God of the Seas, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of Horses, I am Nyx, primordial goddess of night, the man who brought you to us is Chaos, the beginning and the end."
Stunned Percy glanced at the male and found him smiling in amusement at her expression and at the other women who was watching with a smirk as the Deities circle the girl, keeping her off balanced. Percy turned to the older woman and found her much closer than before, her golden eyes burrowing into Percy's sea-green eyes as she searched for something.
"You may call me Flemeth, it is truly a pleasure to meet you, I see great change coming in your eyes."
"Enough, we don't have a lot of time, Percy needs to be given her task and the knowledge that will aid her in her upcoming trials." Nyx stated as she grabbed Percy's hand and lead her to a large golden mirror.
"This is called an Eluvian, it is elven in origin and your gateway into the world that we are sending you to."
"Wait, stop, why am I here and why are you sending me somewhere, I don't understand what's going on!" Percy cried as she shook of the Goddess's hold and darted back away from the group.
"Calm down Percy, breathe, Nyx is terrible when it comes with talking or dealing with mortals, come sit down over here and I will explain as much as I can." Chaos suggested, waving a hand towards a newly formed chaise that he gently placed Percy on and after giving her a cup of cool water to drink began his explanation.
"There is a world, called Thedas, that is in danger, there is no one that we trust to lead the people away from danger without becoming corrupted, I know that you don't want to go, I know that this will be hard for you, but you are the hero that we need and the only one that we can trust not to use the power gathered for your own purposes."
Looking over his shoulder, Percy glanced at the two women and watched as they both nodded along with Chaos' words. Looking back at the primordial and then down at her hands, Percy thought about what he was saying, she would be taken from her mother, her father, and her friends for who knows how long. Would she be able to see them again? Would she be able to come back home? Did her father even know that she was missing? What would happen to her mother when she didn't come back home?
"I'm not going to lie Percy, this is dangerous, it is possible that you might die in the world, but we would not send you without any supplies, while your arrival will be very unstable, once you have been in that world for a few days, we can send to you some things that you will need or desire." Chaos claimed drawing her attention back to him.
"Alright, I don't really want to do this, but I would be stupid to turn down the Primordials, I accept the quest that you have placed before me and will fight until my death or until I have completed the quest given to me." Percy vowed standing and bowing, first to Chaos and then to Nyx.
"Accepted, come Persephone Jackson, stand before the Eluvian and allow the magic of the elves to wash over you." Nyx instructed as she placed Percy back in front of the golden mirror.
Closing her eyes against the ever brightening glow, Percy felt a cool wind wash over her body and screamed slightly as the world fell away and she stumbled down into a green tinted world. Screams echoed through the air, tortured and haunted, they reminded her of the final battle, and all those wounded warriors. Percy stood still for a few moments, confused as to where she was, where were the people, why was the sky green, where were the trees and animals, she continued to glance around her until she heard the skittering of multiple legs. Turning she found a hoard of spiders rushing towards her, running she heard a voice call out to her and veered in that direction. Looking up the small mountain she heard the voice calling from, she found a golden woman reaching out to her. Climbing fast, she managed to reach the glowing woman before the spiders reached her, holding out her hand she felt a searing pain take hold as the woman took her hand. Exploding darkness was the next thing she knew, outraged voices, shouts and screaming, the pain overtaking her senses sending her into a healing sleep, as her consciousness faded she prayed to her father for guidance and protection against any foes that were waiting for her on the other side.
Author's Note: Thank you for the wonderful reviews. In regards to the pairing question about Sera and Percy, probably not. To be honest there might not be a pairing, I'm not too good at writing romance and if I do go a romance route, it will probably with a male character. Sorry if it upsets people, but please keep reading!