A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first ever fanfic! I have loved Dragon Age: Inquisition for years, and I've always wanted to do a playthrough with a FemMage x Cullen romance. Now I'm finally doing that (albeit very slowly), and I realized that there was so much relationship development that we never get to see in the game. I found myself filling in some of the blanks in my head, and so... here we are!
I'm not sure how frequently this will be updated, but it should be somewhat regularly. I'm aiming for possibly every week or two, but we'll see. In general, this story will follow the main events of DA:I and will likely include at least some of the Companion quests, but I'm not going to go into detail on every single mission. I just don't have the patience, and I don't think that would be particularly interesting to read. Some parts of this story will follow along with the events in the game very closely, especially this first chapter, but once the story really gets going, I have all sorts of additional scenes (with plenty of fluff!) planned out, so please bear with me.
I think that's it for now... let me know what you think! With this being my first foray into sharing my writing, I'm excited to see how it goes. :)
*Cross-posted on AO3 under the same username.*
Disclaimer: The world of Thedas, most of the characters, the general plot, and some of the dialogue comes from Dragon Age: Inquisition. The main character, Kirana Trevelyan, is a character of my own making based on the human mage backstory from DA:I.
A sharp pain in her left hand jolted Kirana Trevelyan awake.
It was dark, damp, and cold, none of which was particularly reassuring, given that the last thing Kira remembered was listening to the ongoing peace talks in the bright, warm atrium of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. She blinked, disoriented by the sudden change in her surroundings and by the pain lancing up her left arm. When she tried to lift her hand to examine the source of her pain, she felt hard steel bite into her wrists.
It was then that she realized she was trapped.
Kira came alive then, with panic rising in her throat, to find that she was on her knees, handcuffed, and surrounded by armed guards. Her head whipped around as she looked for an escape, feeling like a cornered animal. The pain in her hand flared again - and now that she was awake, she saw that it came with an angry green pulse of light from a strange mark on her palm.
The door to Kira's prison suddenly slammed open, crashing against the stone wall. Two women entered the room. The first, an intimidating woman with short, dark hair and angry brown eyes, wore the all-seeing eye of the Seekers of Truth emblazoned on the breastplate of her armor. Seemingly, she was the woman in command, for when she gestured for the guards to lower their weapons, they complied. The second woman was hooded and silent, lurking in the shadows by the door.
The Seeker stalked around Kira, watching her with a predatory gleam in her eyes. When she spoke, in was in a voice laced with barely contained hatred. "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now," she snarled. "The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you."
Kira stared at the Seeker, speechless with shock. She had been at the Conclave, of that much, she was sure; it had been the last great hope for peace between mages and templars, who had converged on the Temple of Sacred Ashes in droves. Many had come with hopes for an end to the war that threatened them all. From what she could remember, the talks hadn't been going particularly well, but neither had things come to blows. How could they all be dead?
Except for you, the Seeker's voice repeated in Kira's mind. Realization dawned. "You think I'm responsible?!"
The Seeker grabbed her left arm, yanking it into the air as the mark on Kira's palm sparked emerald. "Explain this," the woman demanded, shaking the prisoner's arm in front of her face.
Kira stared at the mark, and then at the Seeker. "I-I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?" the woman growled menacingly.
Kira could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Panic bubbled within her, and she swallowed hard. "I don't know what that is or how it got there!" She wondered if they could heart the choking fear in her voice.
"You're lying!" The Seeker lunged forward, reaching for Kira, who recoiled from her furious motion.
It was then that the second woman stepped in. Her emotions were far more controlled than the Seeker's, but there was still a shade of disgust in her tone when she said, "We need her, Cassandra." She pulled the Seeker away.
Kira barely heard. She stared at the floor, eyes unseeing. How could this happen? Of all the outcomes she'd imagined, the Divine's call for peace ending in disaster was unthinkable, surreal in the worst possible way. "I can't believe it. All those people… dead?"
The Seeker - Cassandra - stalked a circle around Kira again, watching her as the hooded woman asked, "Do you remember what happened? How this began?"
A memory surfaced distantly, though she wasn't sure that it was real. She closed her eyes…
Smoke swirled around Kira, tinged a sickening green. Ashes floated in the air, dancing through the smog to smolder when they hit the ground. The smoke and the ashes were all she could see. She turned slowly on the spot, looking for any shadow or silhouette, but nothing emerged from the screen of smoke. Where was she?
As she turned back, she noticed a light in the distance, glowing golden against the dull green of the smoke. There was something warm and inviting about the light, and so Kira found herself, almost without thinking about it, walking towards it. Am I dead? she wondered. Aren't you supposed to walk into a light when you're dead?
It was eerily silent, her light footsteps making the only sound as she made her way forward through the ashes. As she grew closer to the source of the light, she realized that it had a shape. It looked like… a woman?
When Kira reached a staircase of rock, she paused, glancing over her shoulder, but the woman above her remained the only landmark in an otherwise bleak, empty landscape. Maybe she's a mage, she thought to herself. Maybe she can help me. Instinct told her otherwise, of course. After all, Kira was a mage, too, but she hadn't the faintest idea where she was or what had happened to her to get her here. And so, with no other option seemingly available to her, Kira began to climb. The stairs were reassuringly solid beneath her feet.
A noise broke the silence behind her, a clicking sound that, despite its low volume, was strangely unsettling. She glanced around again, peering into the gloom, but saw nothing. She frowned at that nothingness. Something wasn't right.
There was a sudden shriek behind her, and suddenly, there were things coming up the stairway after her. Kira was suddenly cold with fear. It felt as though if those shadows claimed her, she could never escape. She sprinted up the remaining stairs towards the woman, taking them two at a time. In her haste, she slipped and fell hard, crying out as her knees collided with the rock of the staircase.
"I-I remember running. Things were chasing me, and then -"
The creatures, whatever they were, were gaining on her. Kira scrambled forward desperately on hands and knees, crawling as quickly as she could toward the light. She could hear the creatures at her heels. They were almost upon her. The light-woman was reaching towards her, and Kira thrust her hand toward the stranger, straining -
"- a woman?" Kira was trembling now, the memory of that horrible darkness pressing on the back of her eyelids.
"A woman?" The hooded woman arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kira opened her eyes. She was sure now, despite the lingering taste of fear in her mouth. "She reached out to me, b-but then…"
A beat of silence passed, and then Cassandra strode forward, guiding the second woman toward the door. "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the rift." The hooded woman - Leliana - nodded tersely, departing just as silently as she had come.
Cassandra knelt before Kira, replacing steel shackles with rope ties. The Seeker was silent now, and Kira could see the tension on her face. Maker's breath, she thought. Just how bad is it out there?
After a moment's tense silence, Kira gathered her courage. "What did happen?"
Cassandra moved quickly to secure the knots to Kira's bindings. As she rose, guiding the prisoner to her feet, she sighed. "It… will be easier to show you." With that, she turned to lead the way outside.
Although Kira wasn't sure how long they had held her prisoner, the stiffness in her knees as she stumbled after Cassandra suggested it had been quite some time. The Seeker strode through stone halls lit with torches, Kira struggling to keep up. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as her aching joints moved for the first time in Maker knew how long. Something told her that such a display would only earn her more scorn from the hardened woman before her.
They emerged from what Kira now recognized as a small chantry into a world covered in white. Kira blinked against the tears in her eyes as they adjusted to the sudden brightness, only realizing once they had cleared that something about the world looked wrong.
She looked up. In the skies above the nearby mountains, a massive hole tore the sky asunder. Dark clouds swirled menacingly around a blindingly bright center. Sickly green lightning flickered across the sky, and swirls of poisonous-looking electricity arced to the ground. Rocks and debris, some as large as castles, floated towards the light, marching slowly upwards to be consumed.
"We call it 'the Breach,'" Cassandra said, and for the first time she they'd met, Kira thought she sounded… tired.
The prisoner stared up at the Breach, awestruck and horrified. How could such a thing be possible? It looked like -
"It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour," Cassandra continued. "It's not the only such rift. Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave."
"An explosion can do that?" Kira whispered, her shock evident in her pale face and wide eyes.
"This one did." The Seeker hesitated. "Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world."
A crack of thunder echoed through the sky as the Breach flared, rending the sky and sending Kira reeling. Her marked hand flew toward the massive rift, green lightning flickering across her palm in response to the Breach. She cried out as pain overtook her and she fell to her knees in the snow. She sat in the snow, gasping, as Cassandra knelt beside her.
"Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads. It is killing you." The Seeker paused. "It may be the key to stopping this, but -"
Suddenly, the absurdity of it all was too much, and Kira laughed harshly. "You still think I did this? To myself?"
Cassandra met her defiant gaze levelly. "Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong."
It was Kira who looked away first. "And if I'm not responsible?"
"Someone is, and you are our only suspect. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way."
For a moment, Kira was silent, her mind whirling. "You say this -" She raised her left hand, where the mark still flickered. "- may be the key. To doing what?"
Cassandra looked surprised, as though the answer should be obvious. "Closing the Breach." Her mouth twisted, and she added, "Whether that's possible is something we shall discover shortly. It is our only chance, however. And yours."
Closing the Breach? Kira's eyes drifted back to that awful tear in the sky. How in the Maker's name was this cursed mark the key to closing… that? Though she could not deny the obvious connection between the Breach and the mark on her hand, she couldn't even begin to fathom how to use one to close the other.
Cassandra's terse voice broke through Kira's paralysis. "There isn't much time."
The Seeker had said that the mark was the only way. But Cassandra was no mage. How did she know it wouldn't just kill the prisoner? Kira stared at her palm, her brows creased as she tried to make sense of the situation in which she found herself. No matter how she considered things, the end result remained the same. After a moment, she took a deep breath. In for a silver, in for a sovereign.
"I'll do what I can. Whatever it takes."
There was a sea of people and tents surrounding the chantry, and Kira was not prepared for the number of angry eyes that followed her as she and Cassandra navigated the chaos. Many of the villagers - or refugees, or whoever they were - glared at her as she passed, whispering urgently to their neighbors behind their hands. Kira wasn't used to being the center of attention, and she couldn't say she was enjoying the experience. She shrank away from the scowls, training her eyes on her feet instead of the furious masses around her.
"They have decided your guilt," Cassandra informed the prisoner. "They need it. The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy. The Conclave was hers. She brought their leaders together. Now, they are dead." The Seeker stopped, looking up at the Breach. "We lash out like the sky, but we must think beyond ourselves, as she did. Until the Breach is sealed."
Cassandra turned to her, and for the first time, Kira truly looked at the Seeker. There were deep bags under the woman's brown eyes, as though she hadn't slept in days, dark under the layer of dirt and grime coating her skin. If she looked closely, Kira could make out what appeared to be tear tracks on Cassandra's cheeks. This was a woman who was acting in desperation, who was trying to hold everything and everyone together in the face of what was surely the end of the world, setting aside her own pain and fear to take care of everyone else's. Despite everything, in that moment, Kira found that she rather admired the Seeker.
She was so distracted that Kira never saw Cassandra draw a dagger; suddenly, the ropes binding her wrists had fallen away. As Cassandra sheathed the blade, she said grudgingly, "There will be a trial. I can promise no more."
A moment of silence passed between the women. Kira wasn't sure what to say to that; a trial would do her no good if everyone had already determined that she was to blame. Or, for that matter, if she died before they could hold a trial.
"Come," Cassandra said finally. "It is not far."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the Breach."
Kira followed the Seeker at a trot, passing covered bodies and injured troops, overflow from the village they had left behind. All around her she heard the sounds of war: crying, chanting, praying. A man nearby led a group of refugees in the Chant of Light. Kira shivered despite herself; the Maker had not interfered to save even his most devout followers. What good was prayer going to do now? Still, she supposed it gave them something to do, something in which they could find some measure of peace and hope. Perhaps that was all they truly had now.
"Open the gate!" Cassandra called to a nearby guard. "We are heading into the valley."
Through the gate they went, following a curving dirt road dotted with makeshift fortifications. The sickly green glow of the Breach settled over everything, tinting the surrounding mountains in poisonous hues. As they ran, she could swear that she saw things falling from the sky in bursts of emerald fire. They passed burning wood, the remnants of supply wagons and campsites for those attending the Conclave; dirty snow, darkened by falling ash, lined the side of the road.
Suddenly, the Breach flared, thunder booming across the sky. The mark on Kira's hand pulsed with green light and unexpected pain blinded her. She stumbled, cradling her left hand to her chest, biting her lip to hold back tears. She was determined not to let the Seeker see her cry.
Cassandra reached out, helping the prisoner to her feet. "The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear, the more demons we face," she added, almost to herself. Her expression was bleak, almost resigned, and that scared Kira more than anything she'd seen so far. If even the Seeker was on the brink of giving up, they were well and truly doomed.
"How did I survive the blast?" Kira asked, breaking the tense silence and forcing her mind to focus on something other than the end of the bloody world. It was a question that afforded her some distraction; she was nothing if not a scholar, and the question of how a fairly average human could have escaped an explosion that tore the very sky apart with only a strange mark on her palm tugged insistently at her mind like a puzzle needing to be solved.
"They said you… stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious." Cassandra hesitated. "They say a woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was." The Seeker squared her shoulders and glanced along the path ahead. "Everything farther in the valley was laid waste," she told Kira, "including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you'll see soon enough."
The women moved on, following the road, until they came to a stone bridge that crossed a frozen river. They were crossing the bridge when it happened. A ball of emerald fire fell from the sky onto the bridge in front of them, exploding when it touched stone. Suddenly, Kira felt the unpleasant sensation of the ground disappearing from underneath her, and she tumbled head over heels through falling debris until she landed, flat on her back, on the ice below.
Cassandra, somehow, was already on her feet, sword at the ready, as she faced down a demon that had landed in the commotion. "Stay behind me!" the Seeker shouted, and Kira scrambled to stand, backing away from the demon as Cassandra lunged forward to engage the enemy. Then she was gone, caught up in her battle.
Kira hesitated, debating. She could fight, although most of her theoretical knowledge was based in self-defense, and all of her practical experience had come after the fall of the Circles. Cassandra was clearly willing to fight on her behalf, but it seemed wrong somehow to rely on a warrior who likely still thought her guilty.
Suddenly, the ground before her bubbled and warped. A grotesque hand emerged from the molten ice and another demon crawled from the depths, its angry, red eyes watching Kira hungrily. Andraste's tits, Kira swore silently, backing away from the demon, panic thudding through her veins. As a mage, she would draw demons like moths to a flame with the Veil so thin; it was no wonder that this one had appeared and set its sights on her. But the first demon still held Cassandra's attention. She probably wasn't even aware that another had appeared.
It was up to Kira to defend herself.
The decision made for her, she called fire to her fist and hurled it at the emerging demon, backing away to give herself more room to cast. Her mana reserves were dangerously low, drained from whatever ordeal she had been through since the explosion at the Conclave. If only I had a staff, she thought desperately. While she could use magic without one, a staff provided a focus and made casting more efficient. With a staff, she might be able to stretch her magic enough to actually make it through this nightmare.
The demon was almost out of the ice now, and she was growing more and more desperate. She looked around, hoping for something, anything, that could be a weapon. To her right, there was nothing but ice and rocks, but to her left…
A bundle of crates had fallen when the bridge collapsed. One lay on its side, its top askew, with a shipment of weapons spilling across the ice. Through some stroke of pure luck, Kira saw a staff poking out of the crate.
Thank the Maker! Kira thought as she lunged for it. Staff in hand, the mage spun and began shooting fireball after fireball at the demon, forcing it to keep its distance. After a moment, Kira was surprised and relieved to see a blade emerge from the creature's chest; Cassandra had finished it off from behind.
Gasping for air, Kira leaned on the staff. "It's over," she told Cassandra as she caught her breath.
"Drop your weapon. Now." Cassandra demanded, approaching with her sword drawn. The animosity in the Seeker's voice took Kira aback. That they had fought together and Kira had not set the Seeker on fire had seemed like a step in the right direction to the mage, but Cassandra clearly did not see it that way.
In any case, Kira had no intention of going the rest of the way unarmed. "Do you really think I need a staff to be dangerous?" she asked the Seeker coldly.
"Is that supposed to reassure me?" Cassandra countered, her brown eyes smoldering.
"I haven't used my magic on you yet," Kira pointed out, her mouth set in a stubborn line. She didn't want to hurt Cassandra, but she needed this staff!
A moment passed, and then two, as the women glared at each other stubbornly. Finally, the Seeker sighed and lowered her weapon. "You're right." She sheathed the sword. "You don't need a staff, but you should have one. I cannot protect you." She turned to continue their journey, then paused. "I should remember you agreed to come willingly."
Did I? Kira wondered. It certainly didn't feel like a choice.
Onwards they trekked, past the ruins of the bridge and through the snow-covered countryside. It was quiet. It would have been peaceful if not for the torn sky raining demons down upon them. As they continued, they moved ever closer to the Breach, battling demons and passing the bodies of the slain. Later, Kira would grieve for those poor, bloodied bodies, would see them in her nightmares, but for now, adrenaline pushed her onward. She had never wanted to be the world's only hope, as Cassandra had said back in Haven, but if she did, in fact, hold the only way to close the Breach in the palm of her hand... well, she couldn't let these deaths have been for nothing, and she couldn't let the living suffer, either. Not if she could do something about it.
The two women followed the frozen river until they came to a staircase cut into the mountainside, and then they began to climb. Kira was surprised to find that she and the Seeker made a formidable pair; working together, they made quick work of any demons that crossed their path.
"We're getting close to the rift!" Cassandra called. "You can hear the fighting."
"Who's fighting?"
"You'll see soon. We must help them!"
They crested the staircase and found themselves faced with chaos. Soldiers and demons battled beneath what Kira assumed was the rift - a floating, warping mass of emerald crystals that seemed to spawn more demons than the soldiers could destroy. Cassandra threw herself into the fight with a fierce battle cry. Kira steeled herself and followed.
Even with two new fighters, the soldiers were very nearly outmatched. Someone cut down a demon; two more sprouted in its place. Cassandra cut down one, while Kira's spell shattered another. Time became a blur. Kira focused solely on casting from afar, trying to stay out of the way of their soldiers. She found herself next to an elven mage, who had also distanced himself from the fight, and a dwarven archer. Finally, the last of the demons fell to an arrow through the eye.
"Quickly!" the mage beside her shouted. "Before more come through!" He grabbed her left wrist, holding her palm toward the rift. Green lightning connected with the strange crystals in the air, and there was a crack. Suddenly, it was as if the rift had never existed.
Kira yanked her hand away from the strange mage, rubbing her palm with her right thumb. She looked at the mark, and then at the elf. His head was bald, accenting his pointed ears. "What did you do?"
His piercing grey eyes regarded her steadily. "I did nothing. The credit is yours," he said.
Kira raised an eyebrow. "I closed that thing? How?"
The mage smiled. He seemed much friendlier than Cassandra. "Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand," he explained. "I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach's wake, and it seemed I was correct."
Cassandra joined them. "Meaning it could also close the Breach itself."
"Possibly." The elf paused, looking at Kira. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."
"Good to know!" This was an unfamiliar voice, this time from the dwarven archer. "Here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever." The dwarf swung his crossbow over a shoulder and sauntered over. Mischievous brown eyes framed a thick nose that looked as though it may have been broken in the past, and he wore his light brown hair tied away from his face, exposing several silver earrings. "Varric Tethras," he said by way of introduction. "Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong." He winked at Cassandra, who snorted with disgust.
Kira suppressed a smile. She was pleased to see that she was not the only one to elicit such a reaction from the Seeker. If anything, Cassandra seemed rather less hospitable to the dwarf than she had been thus far to the mage. "It's good to meet you, Varric."
"You may reconsider that stance in time," the elf informed her.
Varric grinned. "Aw, I'm sure we'll become great friends in the valley, Chuckles." Kira raised an eyebrow. Somehow, 'Chuckles' did not seem an appropriate nickname for the elf.
"Absolutely not!" Cassandra huffed, looking enraged. "Your help is appreciated, Varric, but -"
Varric cut her off. "Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren't in control anymore. You need me."
Cassandra made a disgusted noise. She might have argued, but Kira quickly interrupted. "Are you with the Chantry, or…?" If he was, the dwarf was far more irreverent than any Andrastian Kira had seen, but why else would he be here? As a dwarf, he had no connection to the Fade, so he could not be a mage, and Kira had never heard of a dwarven templar. If he wasn't in either of those groups, then the Chantry was the logical conclusion.
The mage chuckled. "Was that a serious question?" Kira shrugged.
"Technically, I'm a prisoner, just like you," Varric said, glancing at Cassandra, who bristled.
"I brought you here to tell your story to the Divine. Clearly, that is no longer necessary," she said coldly.
"Yet, here I am. Lucky you, considering current events."
The elf turned to Kira, interrupting their bickering. "My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live."
"He means, 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept,'" Varric added.
Kira regarded Solas curiously. "You seem to know a great deal about it all."
"Unlike you, Solas is an apostate," Cassandra said, as though that explained everything. Perhaps it did, in a way; as an apostate, Solas would likely have learned very different magic than what she had learned in the Circle.
"Technically, all mages are now apostates, Cassandra," Solas reminded the Seeker. To Kira, he explained, "My travels have allowed me to learn much of the Fade, far beyond the experience of any Circle mage. I came to offer whatever help I can give with the Breach. If it is not closed, we are all doomed, regardless of origin."
An apostate… Kira wondered what it had been like, to grow up outside of a Circle, to travel and learn whatever one wanted instead of what the Chantry allowed. Curious, she asked, "And what will you do once this is over?"
Solas shrugged. "One hopes those in power will remember who helped and who did not," he said with a smile. He turned to the Seeker. "Cassandra, you should know: the magic involved here is unlike any I have seen. Your prisoner is a mage, but I find it difficult to imagine any mage having such power."
The Seeker nodded curtly. "Understood. We must get to the forward camp quickly." With that, she turned from the battlefield and hurried off, Solas following behind.
Varric caressed the crossbow on his shoulder. "Well, Bianca's excited."
The group hurried down a steep embankment, scrabbling for purchase on the frozen ground. Again, Kira was struck by how peaceful this landscape could be, if not for the Breach. She glanced up at the mountains that surrounded them, reveling momentarily in their pristine beauty.
"Demons ahead!" Solas shouted, bringing her back to the present.
"Glad you brought me now, Seeker?" Varric asked pointedly, aiming his crossbow at one demon.
There was no time for Cassandra to answer. They waded into the demons, each wielding their preferred weapon. They made quick work of this group of demons and the next, fighting their way past abandoned cabins and still more dead bodies. Despite their differences, despite the mistrust that plagued them still, they made an excellent team.
"So I take it you're from the Free Marches?" Varric had crept up on her as she caught her breath from the latest wave of demons.
"Oh?" she gasped, raising an eyebrow and trying not to look as winded as she was. Varric pulled a flask from his belt and offered it to her. She sniffed suspiciously, in case it contained liquor; smelling nothing, she took a long draught. Water had never tasted so good.
"Accent," he explained. "I'm from Kirkwall, but you're from… further east, maybe?"
"That's quite the ear you have," she commented, impressed.
"I'm all kinds of impressive," he agreed with a wink. They heard a derisive snort from Cassandra's general direction.
Kira's mouth twitched. "I'm from Ostwick," she told Varric. "I spent most of my life in the Circle there."
Varric nodded, seemingly satisfied. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "So… are you innocent?"
"I don't remember what happened," she informed him curtly. She didn't want to talk about her role in all this. She was, of course, innocent - but that wasn't likely to matter unless they found the real culprit.
"That'll get you every time," he said wisely, unfazed by her tone. "Should have spun a story."
"That's what you would have done," Cassandra interrupted wryly.
"It's more believable. And less prone to result in premature execution," he pointed out. He had a point, and Kira chuckled despite herself. She rather liked the witty dwarf.
Suddenly, the Breach flared, and Kira's mark responded. She hissed and stumbled, but this time, she stubbornly remained on her feet. Shaking her left hand as though to fling the mark into the snow, she found Cassandra's eyes on her. Was she mistaken, or was that sympathy on the Seeker's face?
"I know it's difficult, but we must keep moving," Cassandra said, placing a hand on Kira's shoulder. The mage nodded, and onwards they went.
They climbed higher into the mountains. The sounds of heavy fighting mingled with the screeches of demons filled the air, growing louder as they pressed on. As the group crested the ridge, they saw it, and Kira's heart sank.
"Another rift!" Cassandra cried.
"We must seal it - quickly!" Solas shouted.
"They keep coming!" That was a soldier, ducking a blow from a demon. "Help us!"
Cassandra charged into the thickest knot of demons, her sword a blur around her. Varric fired his crossbow steadily, hitting each target he aimed at. Solas cast spell after spell, every motion both graceful and deadly.
Kira skirted the battlefield, her eyes on the rift. Perhaps if she closed it, if she cut the demons off from the Fade, they would be weakened. She cast a barrier over herself to be safe and then, before she could panic, thrust her hand at the rift. The electricity from her palm connected with the rift, arcing between the two, and then, suddenly, there was a burst of energy. The rift exploded, leaving behind a smaller tear in the Veil.
The disruption of the rift ensured their victory; as hypothesized, it weakened the demons when their connection to the Fade was damaged. Once the last demon fell, Solas yelled, "Quick! Use the mark!"
Kira raised her hand. The mark flared, and the rift disappeared just as easily as the first. She snorted. Easily, she thought wryly. Right. Because fighting demons falling out of the Fade is just as easy as pie.
"The rift is gone. Open the gate!" Cassandra instructed the nearby soldiers.
"Right away, Lady Cassandra!"
As the soldiers ran to obey, Kira turned to inspect their surroundings. She had been so focused on the rift that she had not yet realized that they stood before a large wooden gate set in a tall stone building. It appeared to be a waypoint of some kind. Whatever it was, it had thus far stood against the demons - an impressive task, if the rest of her day had been any indication.
Solas appeared at Kira's side. "We are clear for the moment. Well done."
"Whatever that thing on your hand is, it's useful," Varric said.
Useful or not, I just want it gone, she thought, but said nothing. She rubbed the mark absently, as though it would disappear if she simply scrubbed it away.
As the gate before them opened, it revealed a long bridge cluttered with people and supplies. The group proceeded past soldiers and crates, following the sound of an argument that grew ever louder as they moved forward.
"We must prepare the soldiers!" That was Leliana, the hooded woman from Haven.
"We will do no such thing!" The second voice was male and unfamiliar.
"The prisoner must get to the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It is our only chance!" Leliana argued.
Kira pressed her lips into a thin line. Somehow, in all the chaos, she had forgotten that she was, technically, still a prisoner. Given how hard she had fought to get here, it had been easy to forget for a while that she was not actually here by choice.
"You have already caused enough trouble without resorting to this exercise in futility," the unknown man said flatly.
"I have caused trouble?" Leliana said furiously.
"You, Cassandra, the Most Holy - haven't you all done enough already?"
"You are not in command here!"
"Enough! I will not have it - ah, here they come."
Kira and her companions stopped in front of an angry-looking man in Chantry attire who leaned over a map displayed on the table before him. He glared at them as he straightened.
Leliana stepped forward. Her dainty features held a hint of relief at their appearance. "You made it," she said by way of welcome, then gestured to Kira. "Chancellor Roderick, this is -"
"I know who she is," he interrupted. "As grand chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution."
Kira felt the blood drain from her face. Was she not to even be allowed to plead her case? To prove her innocence by fixing this mess?
Before she could respond, Cassandra sneered, "Order me? You are a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat!"
"And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!"
Cassandra began to respond angrily, but Leliana stepped between them. "We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor, as you well know."
Roderick raised his hands and stepped back. "Justinia is dead!" he reminded them. We must elect a replacement and obey her orders on the matter!"
Kira couldn't help herself. Electing a new Divine would take time - more time than they had to close the Breach, and much more time than she would be alive, with the mark on her hand spreading. "Isn't closing the Breach the more pressing issue?" she asked, forcing herself to be polite. She was well-versed in diplomacy, having learned first as a child from a noble family, and then as a mage in the Circle, and it had helped her more than once.
Unfortunately, Roderick was not in the mood to be diplomatic. She supposed she couldn't blame him. After all, everything he held dear was now gone, destroyed in an explosion that he thought Kira had planned. "You brought this on us in the first place!" he nearly shouted at her. To Cassandra, he said, "Call a retreat, Seeker. Our position here is hopeless."
But Cassandra shook her head. "We can stop this before it's too late."
"How?" For the first time, Kira heard the despair in Roderick's voice. "You won't survive long enough to reach the temple, even with all your soldiers."
"We must get to the temple. It's the quickest route," Cassandra insisted.
"But not the safest," Leliana argued. "Our forces can charge as a distraction while we go through the mountains." She pointed to a nearby peak.
"We lost contact with an entire squad on that path. It is too risky," Cassandra said.
"Listen to me," Roderick begged. "Abandon this now before more lives are lost!"
The breach cracked and flared, louder and brighter now that they were so close, making the very ground beneath their feet shudder. The mark on Kira's hand responded, but this time it made her entire arm shake. She grabbed her left wrist, trying to quell the quivers, but to no avail. Soon, the glow from the lightning that flickered across her hand faded, and Kira looked up to find all eyes on her.
Cassandra was the first to speak. "How do you think we should proceed?"
"Now you're asking me what I think?" Kira asked, incredulous. This was the same woman that would gladly have killed her only a few hours ago. Now she wanted Kira to decide their fate?
"You have the mark," Solas pointed out.
"And you are the one we must keep alive." Cassandra continued. "Since we cannot agree on our own…"
Kira bit back a scowl, schooling her face into neutrality. She was perhaps the least qualified person here to be making this decision, but she couldn't deny that they were right. If the fate of the world rested on her shoulders, it seemed only fitting that her opinion at least be taken into account.
The mage glanced at the mountain, considering. It might be safer, if the demons were concentrated in the valley, but they had already lost a squad on that route, and Kira was willing to bet it wasn't to bandits. For all they knew, demons had overrun the mountain, and they would be walking into a death trap. Was it really worth asking the soldiers in the valley to risk their lives for the slim chance that the mountain path was clear? If they went through the valley, at least they would all stand together. That might be the only thing that could save them now.
"I say we charge," she said finally. "I won't survive long enough for your trial. Whatever happens, happens now."
Cassandra nodded. "Leliana, bring everyone left in the valley," she instructed. "Everyone." Her words created a flurry of activity as the remaining soldiers fell into formation. It wasn't long before they were ready to move out.
As they prepared to leave, Roderick spoke. "On your head be the consequences, Seeker."
The scene in the valley was far worse than Kira had anticipated. Rows of the dead lined the road. For a while, the corpses were at least covered in sheets, but it seemed that the soldiers had eventually run out of cloth. It was harder to look at corpses left uncovered, especially the ones with eyes left wide and staring, their last emotions of fear and pain trapped forever on their faces. Further on, the neat rows disappeared; the dead had been left to rot where they fell. Kira swallowed bile and forced herself to stare straight ahead. She couldn't bear to see the carnage wrought by the explosion at the Conclave, knowing that somehow, against all odds, she had survived what they could not.
The sound of fighting reached their ears once more, and they rushed forward, propelled by a renewed sense of urgency. This battle raged around another rift. It was larger than the others, and Kira swallowed hard as she considered how to get close to it, much less seal it.
"How many rifts are there?" That was Varric; he had paused beside her. When she glanced at his face, he looked haunted.
"Too many," she muttered, and he grunted agreement.
"We must seal it if we are to get past," Solas observed.
Cassandra sighed. "Quickly, then!"
Into battle they went, falling into what had quickly become their unspoken formation. Cassandra led the way, drawing the attention of their enemies as Solas and Varric offered protection and damage from afar. Kira cast spell after spell as she moved, angling toward the rift at every step. If she could just get close -
There! An opening. She thrust her hand skyward, and the now-familiar electricity tingled upon her palm. There was an ear-splitting shriek as the rift closed, leaving no trace.
"Sealed, as before. You are becoming quite proficient at this," Solas said with approval.
"Let's hope it works on the big one," Varric added, jerking his chin towards the Breach.
They all looked up at the sky. It was astounding how much larger the Breach was now that they were so close. Kira felt cold, dread and fear settling in her heart. Maker, how am I supposed to close that? Kira glanced at her palm and the mark it held. She supposed it didn't really matter if she could or couldn't close the Breach; she had to try.
"Lady Cassandra!" Kira turned as a well-armored man strode toward the Seeker. "You managed to close the rift? Well done."
"Do not congratulate me, Commander. This is the prisoner's doing," she said, gesturing toward Kira. The mage stiffened at that and turned her gaze to study the Breach to avoid scowling at the Seeker. Briefly, she considered reminding Cassandra that she did, in fact, have a name, but she couldn't remember if she'd ever shared it. Had Cassandra ever asked? Maker, what's the point? If her companions - and everyone else - were so sure of her guilt, there was nothing she could say now to sway them. Acting poorly would prove nothing. She just had to convince them all that they were wrong. By closing the Breach. Sweet Andraste.
"Is it?" the Commander asked. Hearing the surprise in his voice, Kira glanced over to find him watching her with an altogether strange combination of suspicion and admiration. "I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of people getting you here."
Kira looked away. She knew that there had been losses. She had seen the bodies. She forced herself to look back up, to meet the Commander's eyes. "I can't promise anything, but I'll try my best."
The Commander examined her, frowning slightly when he saw the staff in her hand. She swallowed hard. She was a mage, and that was all that most of the people here had needed to know to confirm her guilt. It appeared that the Commander was no different, and it irked the mage. She watched as he shook his head, as though ridding himself of unwelcome thoughts. "That's all we can ask," he said, meeting her gaze squarely, his voice impassive. Turning to Cassandra, he told her, "The way to the temple should be clear. Leliana will try to meet you there."
The Seeker nodded. "Then we'd best move quickly. Give us time, Commander."
The Commander nodded and turned to go. Over his shoulder, he called, "Maker watch over you, for all our sakes." As they left, she saw him bend to help an injured soldier off the battlefield.
The path to the Temple of Sacred Ashes lay before them now. The scene before Kira was indescribable, worse than she could have possibly imagined. Black ash stretched for as far as the eye could see, interrupted only by piles of charred rubble and, unsurprisingly, still more bodies. In places, the heat of the explosion had melted the ground into sheets of black, glassy rock that reminded the mage of obsidian. As Kira walked forward, gaping in horror at the destruction, she heard a crunch. When she looked down, she saw broken bones beneath her feet. The force of the blast had seared away flesh, leaving only blackened skeletons in its wake.
The mage gagged, staggering backwards. She tore her eyes away from the grisly remains, only to find that there were more scattered around her, littering the ground all around the ruined temple. She was suddenly dizzy, and she leaned on her staff as she fought to breathe. So much death, so much destruction, and for what? How in the Maker's name had she survived?
Despite the questions swirling through her mind, Kira had no choice but to press on, biting her tongue against the nausea that threatened to overtake her. None of her companions said a word; she suspected that the nightmare they walked through horrified them as much as it did her.
Clouds of ash bloomed around their feet as they walked on, trying not to look, or breathe, or feel. Every crunch beneath their feet brought a cringe and a grimace. Kira was pretty sure that she heard someone mutter apologies under their breath once or twice. It wasn't long before Kira began to silently recite the Chant of Light. Anything to distract her.
"The Temple of Sacred Ashes," someone said at last. At first, she didn't understand. Nothing looked any different; she saw only a field of crumbling debris and blackened corpses, stretching on and on into the distance, covered in ash.
"What's left of it," Varric added darkly. That was when she realized that there was no Temple of Sacred Ashes. Not anymore. It was all gone, as though it had never existed at all.
Cassandra pointed. "That is where you walked out of the Fade and our soldiers found you. They say a woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was."
Kira's mouth was too dry. "How?" she croaked.
No one had an answer.
They entered the Temple, such as it was, and were all four stunned into silence when they saw the Breach. Green lightning and smoke reached from the sky, twining together toward the ground, where it met with the largest rift that they had seen.
"The Breach is a long way up," said Varric.
"You're here!" Leliana hurried to them, surrounded by soldiers. "Thank the Maker."
"Leliana, have your men take up positions around the temple," instructed Cassandra. The appearance of someone to command seemed to ground the Seeker, though her eyes were still haunted. The hooded woman nodded and turned, already giving orders. The Seeker looked at Kira. "This is your chance to end this. Are you ready?"
"I'll try," Kira said hesitantly, "but I don't know if I can reach that, much less close it."
"No," Solas said. "This rift was the first, and it is the key. Seal it, and perhaps we seal the Breach."
Cassandra nodded. "Then let's find a way down. And be careful."
They wandered the temple, walking through hallways without ceilings, past walls that were crumbling into dust. Even if she'd never been there, Kira would have been in awe of the damage; since she remembered what it was like before, it made the temple's current state all the worse.
"Now is the hour of our victory." A strange voice reverberated through the air, making all of them jump. "Bring forth the sacrifice."
"What are we hearing?" Cassandra asked, sounding as though she feared the answer.
"At a guess: the person who created the Breach," responded Solas.
Kira didn't particularly care who it was. The sound of their voice made her skin crawl. She fervently hoped that she never had to hear it again.
A red glow caught her attention, and the mage paused to inspect its source. A strange, crimson ore appeared to have forced its way through the surface here and now lay glinting in the light cast by the Breach. Its peculiar luminescence caught and held the mage's attention. She stepped closer. Was it whispering?
"You know this stuff is red lyrium, Seeker." Varric's voice brought her out of her trance and she stumbled back, brow furrowed in confusion. The red lyrium, as Varric called it, had called to her, enticing her closer in a way that was almost demonic. Kira shivered, giving the ore a wide berth as she moved on.
"I see it, Varric."
"But what's it doing here?" He was on edge, more so than Kira had seen him yet. Of all the things they had seen, this red lyrium seemed to upset Varric the most.
"Magic could have drawn on lyrium beneath the temple, corrupted it," Solas said thoughtfully.
"It's evil," spat Varric. "Whatever you do, don't touch it."
A few moments passed as they neared the heart of the temple. Then they heard it.
"Keep the sacrifice still." It was that voice again. Kira's lips flattened into a thin line. It was more than just hearing a voice. Somehow, it seemed like she felt the voice in her bones.
"Someone help me!"
Cassandra's eyes snapped up to the Breach. "That is Divine Justinia's voice!" Kira stared at her. How could that be?
They had arrived at the temple's center and found themselves below the rift. It changed constantly, growing and shrinking as old crystals disappeared, only to be replaced by fresh growth. The mark on Kira's hand began to glow.
"Someone help me!" the Divine's voice cried.
"What's going on here?" Kira's eyes widened. That was - but it couldn't be -
Cassandra's brows snapped together. "That was your voice. Most Holy called out to you, but -"
The rift above them crackled. Light flared, and when her vision dimmed, Kira saw an image glowing in the air above them. Glowing red eyes shone from within a vast shadow. Divine Justinia hung before the shadow, suspended by her arms from something they couldn't see. It was into this scene that Kira's image ran, looking fearfully between the shadow and the Divine. "What's going on here?" the image asked weakly.
"Run while you can!" cried the Divine. "Warn them!"
"We have an intruder," said that terrible shadow, its voice emotionless and cold. "Kill her. Now!"
The scene disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Kira and her companions in a daze. She stared at the rift, trying to make sense of it all. Clearly, she had been involved in whatever had happened here, but why couldn't she remember?
"You were there!" came Cassandra's accusing voice. "Who attacked? And the Divine, is she…? Was this vision true? What are we seeing?" she demanded.
"I don't remember!" said Kira.
Solas interrupted, gazing at the rift. "Echoes of what happened here. The Fade bleeds into this place." He turned to them. "This rift is not sealed, but it is closed, albeit temporarily. I believe that with the mark, the rift can be opened, and then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side."
"That means demons," Cassandra said. "Stand ready!"
As the soldiers around the temple moved into position, Kira stared up at the rift. Opening the rift, allowing demons to pass into this world… it went against every instinct, everything she'd been taught as a Circle mage. Regardless, everyone here - Maker, everyone in the world - was counting on her to do this. It was not a duty she could shirk.
Squaring her shoulders, Kira glared at the rift, then flung her hand towards it. Her mark flared and green electricity arced through the air; with a flash, the rift opened. From its mouth stepped a massive demon. Its eyeless head quested from side to side as though sniffing out its prey; when it roared, Kira saw rows of sharp teeth dripping with venom. Hardened plates of armor covered its enormous body, and its claws were easily as long as Varric was tall. She watched it straighten in horror, panic-stricken and paralyzed.
"Now!" shouted Cassandra.
The Seeker's cry startled Kira into motion. She cast a barrier and darted sideways, dodging soldiers as she tried to flank the giant creature. She was dimly aware of Solas hurling fireballs, Varric shooting arrows, and Cassandra in the middle of the fray. On guard, she thrust her hand towards the rift and it broke apart, weakening the demon. The creature fell to its knees and Kira joined the assault, throwing every offensive spell she could think of at its back.
When the creature rose to its feet and turned, lashing out at her with long whips of lightning, Kira stumbled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack with a startled cry. She cursed; the long day of magic use was catching up with her, and she was running out of mana. She hoped she could last long enough to at least close the Breach.
More demons, smaller and less intimidating, poured from the rift. Again, she ran to flank the enemy, reaching for the rift and disrupting it with the mark on her palm. Again, she threw all of her power into spells aimed at destroying the demon. And again, it wasn't enough; the demon rose to its feet and roared, swiping its massive claws at anyone within reach.
Once more, she told herself firmly as her vision blurred, the edges darkening. This time, when she disrupted the rift, the demon fell.
"Now!" shouted a distant voice. "Do it!"
Kira flung her palm toward the sky and felt the now-familiar hum of electricity as the mark connected with the rift. There was a flash of light and a crack of thunder, and then a satisfying silence that told her that the rift was no more.
As cheers rose around her, everything went black.