Hard, booted footsteps rang out across the stony dungeon floor as the weighty door opened with a clank of keys, and a derisive sniff. Cassandra Pentaghast surveyed the source, or rather sources, of her worst nightmare come true: the five unknown prisoners in her charge. The only survivors of the explosion of the Grand Conclave. And all of them containing the crackling energy of the hole in the sky.
Lady Nightingale had yet to return with her preliminary report on her findings on each of them, which even at her swift pace would be longer than they desired. Haven was chaos, which needed little explanation.
Both the Templars and mages left after the explosion had lost their collective minds, even more so than before, and it had been only Knight-Commander Cullen, Maker bless him - and, taking all the surprise left she had out of her, Chancellor Roderick, had stepped up, providing a stern, yet relatively reasonable voice to the mix, advocating as the now-senior Chantry official that everyone should return to sanity...at least till they identified the culprit, or culprits.
She made no mistake, Roderick was calling for blood as much as the next layman, but he did care about justice, and that was one thing, maybe the only one, that he, the Left, and Right Hand of the former Divine could agree on. And now, they need to maintain a semblance of order, and stick to their divinely mandated roles more than ever.
The Left Hand was the elusive reach of the Divine, seeking out truths and paths otherwise hidden, while the Right Hand was the sword, the fist of justice. This was Cassandra Pentaghast. And she would remain faithful to Justinia, even in death, and give her recompense. Starting with these five.
They were a motley bunch, that was to say the least. If they truly had conspired to see the end of the Chantry, it was the most….diverse collection of people Thedas had to offer. Turning to her left, she took in the one that was most reasonable to want the fall of the Andrastian faith...a qunari. Although, he was truly young for such a task, but knowing the Qun and their actions in Kirkwall from Cullen, she was not surprised they would stoop so low.
The problems with this idea though began to take hold as she glanced to the next person - a dwarf. Casteless, it seemed, based on her clothes. Still, her kind were rarely seen among the ranks of the Qun, seeing their adverse nature towards a dwarf's main livelihood, lyrium, casteless or no.
And then there was the elf, in Warden's clothes no less. Rogue Wardens were heard of sparingly, but in the conspiratorial company of a qunari and dwarf? Cassandra gave a snort at that.
Finally, two humans, one dressed in refined noble clothes that could've been found in her home of Nevarra, with the caveat that they were on the ragged side, as if the man was a wannabe swashbuckler. Cassandra had a passing thought that he looked like a man her novellas love to describe, but she blinked away this foolish thought with a blink and frown, purposing to move on to the final prisoner.
This one had to be most offensive, seeing the young woman was wearing Chantry Sister robes. Were they stolen? Fabricated? Or was she actually one of the faith, disillusioned enough to want to see Justinia, and all in attendance perish? Cassandra realized there were now more questions than answers, but that would soon change.
Drawing her sword, she rapped it loudly against one of the cell's bars, waking the five with a start. She began to pace in between them, sidestepping the guards's blades against each of their necks.
"Tell me why we shouldn't kill all of you now. The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except you."
Her ears caught the light steps of a familiar figure, her eyes briefly locking with the incoming presence of Leliana Nightingale, her face placid as ever, but oh so cunning as she took in the prisoners, coming to a halt and clasping her hands behind her back.
"Wha - what do you mean everyone is dead?" a shocked voice came from the girl, dressed as a Chantry sister, causing Cassandra to whirl and approach her, gripping her hand and saying with a scowl, "Explain. This."
As if to illustrate her point, the mark of magic crackled loudly, from all of them, Cassandra's eyes never leaving the wide-eyed gaze of the girl's, who briefly grimaced in pain, but managed to reply, "I - I..can't!"
Cassandra let go of her wrist roughly, and scowled even further. "What do you mean you can't!"
"She can't. We can't," came a surprisingly forceful murmur from the dwarf, causing Cassandra to change course, approaching the small figure.
"You're lying!" she shouted, gripping the shoulder of the woman in a vice, who only responded with a scowl of her own, before a familiar hand, with forceful determination of her own, pushed her away gently, but firmly.
"We need them Cassandra," was all Leliana had to say in that tempered voice of hers, causing her to huff and stand off to the side, cooling down from the fierce attempt to extract the much-needed truth.
"I can't believe this...Maker, all those people...dead…" the girl muttered, seemingly overcome, and on the verge of tears, launching into what sounded like the Chant of Light to calm herself. Was this girl truly capable of such a horrifying genocide?
"Do any of you remembered what happened? How this began?" Leliana ignored this and addressed the room, composure still calm, but rigid.
After a tense moment, the boyish voice of the qunari spoke up. "I...remember running, things were chasing me, and then...a woman?", his voice sounding as if he was trying to earnestly help.
"A woman?" Leliana repeated, kneeling down to his level as he looked up at her, looking almost as frightened as the girl.
"Yes! Indeed, a woman. She...I do not know, she was too bright, but -," the man in the ragged noble clothes added with gusto, but was cut off.
"Bright. Like the sun. She beckoned." the dwarf interjected, no longer looking up with a scowl, but now sounding vague as her face crinkled as it looked like she was trying to discern something...distant.
They were all saying gibberish now, looking both to somehow spin a story, and still suffering from shock of the explosion, maybe of their own making. Cassandra stepped back in. Maybe some frigid mountain air would clear their obviously muddled minds.
"Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will bring them." An idea was now forming in her mind, to possibly deal with this immense catastrophe.
The Left Hand nodded to her counterpart and left, as Cassandra gave her nod to the guards, who began dispensing with the chains, but not the cuffs. There would be no sort of freedom for these until they proved otherwise. As they were all brought to their feet, the girl, still looking bewildered, asked with a voice heavy with emotion, "What did happen?"
Unintentionally, this triggered Cassandra's own emotion for the events, and the death of so many she had loved, none more than Justinia, causing her to respond with, "It will be easier to show you."
In silence, she led the entourage of guards and the five captives out of the Chantry temple, drawing immediate gazes and hurried whispers from those around, which she paid no heed to as the doors were opened and the coarse mountain air billowed in, and they stepped outside, drawing varying curses from the group, which she also ignored, as those utterances were replaced swiftly by startled gasps in the face of...it.
"We call it...The Breach," Cassandra spoke to them all, gesturing to the jagged presence of the swirling maelstrom in the sky. "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It is not the only such rift, just the largest."
She turned and face the group once more.
"All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave."
"An explosion can cause...that?" the noble-man spoke, sounding unconvinced, though he seemed totally floored as he continued to survey the scene.
"This one did. And unless we act, the Breach may grow till it swallows the world," she rebutted, but a sudden blast from the Breach emphasized her point more than she could, cueing the Marks on each of their hands to respond in tune, drawing painful cries from each of their mouths as they doubled over, and Cassandra saw a opportunity to wedge in her point even more. Get them to listen.
"Each time the Breach expands, your Marks spread, and it is killing you. They may be the key to stopping this, but there isn't much time."
"You say it's the key. To do what," the dwarf spoke, grimacing now with the lingering pain, but her face still hardened.
"Closing the Breach," Cassandra replied smartly, "whether that's possible is something we will discover shortly. It is our only chance however...and yours."
The dwarf scowled at this, as it seemed her nature, but said nothing. Cassandra surveyed the rest of the faces to see if her message had taken hold, the faces in their willingness varying, from the Chantry girl was some sort of willingness, and desperation, to the Qun boy, who looked in awe despite the circumstances, and the nobleman, who simply looked like he wanted to be as farthest away from this debacle as possible, drawing a mental shake-of-head from Cassandra, especially after what he said next. "You still think I - ehm, we, did this? To ourselves?"
"Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong," she answered, which he swiftly replied with,
"And if we're not responsible?" He spoke as a man that immediately denied his involvement in whatever scuffle he was in proximity to, whether he had involvement or not, deepening her scowl for the flippant air about him.
"Someone is. And you," she gestured to the five while keeping her iron gaze on him, "are our only suspects. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way."
Silence pervaded as the man then averted her gaze, chastened, yet defiant. But it was the girl that spoke with a low, but determined voice edged with steely intent next. "Then...I will help, and do what I can...whatever it takes."
This made Cassandra blink at the sheer gravitas behind such a young one's voice, much less in the direction of willingness. "Does she speak for all of you?" the soldier asked, part looking at each of them, no objection being offered. That would have to be enough.
She silently motioned for them to follow. As if they had a choice. The entourage began to gain attention as they progressed into the heart of Haven, the throng of people around in barely-concealed gestures and expressions making their malice known.
"They have decided your guilt. They need it," Cassandra said, as they walked between the gathered peoples, orating what everyone in the crowd was thinking.
"The people of Haven mourn Divine Justinia, our Most Holy. The Conclave was hers, a chance for peace between mages and Templars. She brought their leaders together. Now they are dead." Cassandra let her own emotion creep into the dialogue, letting these five know what they'd potentially wrought, the pain they'd immeasurably caused. In most things, she was steel, an unmoving bulwark in the seeking of truth. But, Justinia, dear Justinia, believed in a gentler way, and this is who she channeled in the moment.
"We lash out like the sky, but we must think beyond ourselves. As she did. Until the Breach is sealed."
With stone-cold silence prevailing they reached the first gate on the ascent to the now-desecrated Temple, the guards opening the ornate reminder of Chantry glory now shambled by creators of evil. Whether that would be proven to be those in her charge now, or others, would not be her decision. She was simply an enforcer - a Seeker of truth. But she would see fairness upheld.
"There will be a trial. I can promise no more," she said, turning to her charges, peering into their eyes, to find some inkling of the truth she sought. All she could discern, to her surprise, was sheer blankness in each in return. What that entailed, she did not know.
She nodded to the guards to cut their restraints. She did not want them dead for lack of mobility before reaching their goal, and the sheer amount of Chantry people around imbued with holy anger would see to it that they would not be able to put up resistance, or escape. That was if they got past herself somehow. Still, the five, despite being cold and dazed, looked surprised (except for that dastardly dwarf - Cassandra was beginning consider that their kind had an aversion towards her), that their restraints were released. She said nothing, though, motioning again for them to follow.
Continuing along the path, ever closer to the Breach, their Marks once again flared, making them cry out and double over, causing Cassandra to look back before helping up the girl, while the others were helped up reluctantly by the guards.
"The pulses are coming faster now," she said to the girl, but her firm voice carrying enough to be heard by the others. "The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear - and all the more demons we face."
This seemed to get a lucid response from the girl, eyes flaring with a mixture of emotions, but not one being fear. She was a fighter then, accustomed to the proximity of the spirit world. At such a young age. Maybe she truly was Andrastian, even part of a Circle. Or maybe not. Interrogations would do her no good at this point.
They continued, Cassandra narrating what had transpired in the past day, periodically looking back to gauge their reactions, before reaching another bridge, and this was when things began to go awry. The Breach sent a hurtling ball of green magic straight towards them, blasting the bridge to rubble, causing all of them to tumble to the frozen river below, Cassandra's eyes darting back to notice most of the guards had been incapacitated, right before a rift formed jaggedly in front of her, spewing out a host of demons that screached bloodcurdingly in their rage, and she resigned herself to fight, even if it was to her last. Into darkness, unafraid.
She charged with a shout, drawing sword and shield, but before she managed to land a blow on the closest monstrosity, a cavalcade of different attacks blasted the creature, from ice to thrown daggers and arrows, felling the thing as it screamed once more before dissipating back into the Fade. She barely gave a glance backwards, realizing to do so would make her vulnerable to the rest of the demons, and so she charged on, and with the rest of the help, destroyed the rest of the spirits, finally giving her cause to look back, which made her immediately rigid.
The guards had not been the ones to repel the attack, as they were just now recovering. The five had recovered weapons from a cache nearby, exposing their individual talents - the girl had a staff, while the rest had an assortment of weapons drawn.
"Drop your weapons! Now!" she shouted as the situation devolved into a standoff, the guards finally recovering and circling the five.
"If you're going to lead us through a demon-infested valley, there's no way!" the smarmy noble-man replied, his bow still strung, but not at the ready to shoot, which gave Cassandra some assurance.
"Give me one reason to trust you!" she said, and it was the dwarf that responded.
"My life is on the line. We live no other way."
She saw the merit in this. The whole landscape could be called more of a hellscape now, and there was strength in numbers. She sighed. The situation was becoming more complicated.
"I cannot blame you. And I cannot protect you either, if this happens again." She began walking again, but stopped and turned again, resolving to show some trust. "I should remember none of you put up a fight, and have not run yet." This would be all she would give, for now.
The girl at least gave a small, hesitant smile in return, and that same resolve was there, her hands gripping her commandeered staff firmly. A mage, with some experience. That could come useful. But she would be watchful.
"We go," Cassandra said, leading forward the now armed band, consisting of the five, her, and the guards, who seemed to defer to her on this matter. Rifts became more prevalent as they ascended, as did the carnage. Bodies littered the way, Cassandra's ears picking up faint chokes from it seemed the younger two of the coterie as they witnessed the violence, but the other three were silent. She then realized that the elf had not spoken once, remaining completely stoic in the face of everything. A hardened woman then, which called into question even more of her theory that the qunari were behind this whole apocalyptic mess. The boy, though he was contributing in the fight and appeared seasoned with a sword, did not seem like he'd seen a mass amount of warfare, and its inevitable result. A situation that was becoming more complex by the moment. Hopefully the forward camp would have more answers for her.
"Where are all your soldiers?" the swashbuckler spoke up as she thought this, something she could answer.
"They are at the forward camp, or fighting, which -"
Her answer died on her tongue as they crested another hill, and saw something she had hoped to avoid. A large actual rift, one that would not go away with several dead demons. And beneath it, several familiar figures fighting, that she was both glad and loathe to see.
"Soldiers, with me!" she called out, leading the charge once more to take the pressure off the beleaguered people below.
Once more proving her trust was not misplaced, the five assisted, barraging the demons until there were none left...for now. Cassandra knew without the rift being closed more would seep through, and drain the strength of their forces. And then, something unexpected happened.
"Quickly! Before more come through!" the familiar, bald elf shouted, grabbing the closest of the five, this being the girl, and thrusting her hand towards the crackling rift, and it responded.
Actually, they all responded. Each of the Marks, with their proximity to the rift, interacted with it, providing the repellant to the corresponding magic, causing the green ephemeral energy to increase in intensity, before exploding and snapping it out of existence, drawing gasps from each of the five as they recovered, wide-eyed.
"What...did you do?" the mage-girl breathed, locking gazes with the male elf.
"I did nothing. You all did. The credit is yours."
"I...umm, we, closed that rift. How?" she continued, looking slightly gobsmacked.
"I theorized that very same Breach in the sky placed that mark on your hand, and can in the same breath close the rifts opened in its wake. And it seems I was correct."
Cassandra was now thankful for the obvious apostate, knowing there was no way she could've known this. "Meaning it could close the Breach itself," she said, coming close to the two.
"Possibly," the elf said, his eyes looking thoughtful. He turned to the group, specifically the five, assembled. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."
"Good to know! And here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever," snarked that familiar baritone voice of someone half her size as he gave a casual smirk while adjusting his shooting gloves and coming close.
"Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasional unwelcome tagalong," the little man said with a wink at Cassandra, drawing her ire as usual as she huffed. The man would never stop in his pursuit to irritate her, and stating his questionable usefulness. But, she did catch the smirks now displayed on the fellow female dwarf and the noble swashbuckler, but also the elf, as she seemed to survey his arsenal with approval.
Are you with the Chantry?" the girl asked, and it did not pass Cassandra's notice she also seemed very surprised he was considered an ally, her face arrayed in a slight frown.
"The Chantry? Are you serious?" came the chuckled retort from the elven apostate.
"Technically, I am a prisoner, just like you, but -" Varric started.
"I brought you here to tell your story to the Divine. Clearly that is no longer necessary," she said with some mirth, not looking for the dwarf to go onto one of his clever diatribes.
"I am Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live," the elf interjected smoothly, diverting the tension.
"I am Alessa," the girl answered shortly with a cordial tone, identifying herself for the first time, and out of Cassandra's peripheral she noticed a startled shift in the noble-man's demeanor. Something to follow up on.
"What he means is that he's pleased to see he kept that Mark from killing you all while you slept," Varric felt the need to add, which his counterpart did not object to.
"You seem to know a lot about the Fade!" the qun boy's voice suddenly piped up, his eyes looking eager to learn more. Solas smiled, turning to him. "I have learned much about the Fade in my travels - "
"As an apostate," Cassandra felt the need to add, drawing a noticeable frown from the girl mage, Alessa, but interest from the rest.
"...Which has allowed me to learn far more than any Circle mage. I came to offer whatever help I could with the Breach. Without it being closed, we are doomed regardless of origin," he said with a shrewd look at Cassandra, something she could not deny. He went on. "Lady Pentaghast, you should know that the magic I have seen here is unlike any other. Two of your prisoners seem to be mages, but I find it difficult to see any mage wielding such power."
Holes in the perceived narrative for all that had occurred were starting to appear, and it frustrated her. Not that she believed the judgement of an apostate word-for-word, but he had been helpful, and not subversive...yet.
"Understood," she answered with a nod, "let us move on to the forward camp."
"Well, Bianca's certainly excited," Varric shrugged with a whimsical smile as they trudged onwards.
Upon reaching the forward camp, the Seeker realized her day was doomed to get worse. Chancellor Roderick, Maker take him, stood directly in her way, and he was none too happy.
"Ah, here they come," he nearly spat, and it was only Leliana's calming presence that kept Cassandra from giving the man her version of "Chantry justice".
"Chancellor Roderick, this is -" Leliana began.
"I know who they are. Seeker, I dema - you!"
Roderick suddenly became downright vitriolic as he pointed a bony finger at none other than the female dwarf of the party, who scowled deeply in return, as he shouted, "Of course you survived! This dwarf is completely complicit in the destruction of the Conclave, I demand you take her to Val Royeaux immediately to be executed!"
Shocked silence reigned for only a second before Leliana queried, "And what proof do you have of this Chancellor?"
"She had no pass to the proceedings! Only the good word of Knight-Commander Rutherford allowed her into the Temple, which I explicitly warned him against! She is a smuggler at best for the crime of accessory, and a murderer in most likelihood!" Roderick spat, glaring with rage at the dwarf, Cassandra noticing the grip on her daggers tightening, but the Seeker would not allow this to escalate further.
"Commander Rutherford is not one to be lax in his judgement, Roderick. If you had an issue with this dilemma you should've contacted me. Now, if you truly believe there is evidence for this woman's complicity we have not already seen, why not wield the executioner's blade, here, now?" she questioned sternly, a bite coming to her voice as she held out her sword as an invitation for him to take, which he suddenly appeared hesitant to oblige.
"Indeed then. You are a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat. Ordering me to execute a prisoner with no evidence?" she pushed.
"And you are a thug," Roderick hit back, sidestepping her declaration, "but one that supposedly serves the Chantry!"
"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor, as you know," Leliana reasoned, but her tone gave away that she too was reaching the end of her reason for this man.
"Justinia is dead! Your authority is diminished in its wake!" Roderick returned, promising no end to this feud, but an unlikely, stern, yet composed voice said, "Isn't the Breach our priority?"
The voice was rich in a Free Marches accent, but it was not from of the two humans she was increasingly suspecting were from that region. No, it was from the elf, dressed in Wardens gear, that had spoken. Her frown said it all. She, as well, was tired of the division.
"And you. Wearing a most honorable Warden's robes. Are you truly one of their ranks? Or are you bedfellows with this dwarf here. You are most likely why we are here in the first place! Call a retreat Seeker, our position here is hopeless," Roderick went on, now sounding despondent as he gripped the table in front of him.
"We need to stop this before it is too late! We must charge!" she responded fervently.
"How? Even with all your men, you won't make it to the Temple," Roderick said, then Leliana stepped in.
"The direct route is not the safest. Our forces can charge as a distraction, while we go through the mountains," she suggested with a gesture to the left face of the peaks, but Cassandra shook her head. "We lost contact with an entire contingent of scouts that way, it's too risky."
"Abandon this suicide now, Seeker. Before more lives are lost," Roderick entreated, and for a moment, she could hear real genuine care in his voice, making her wonder how buried it usually was.
The moment was interrupted as the Breach above convulsed angrily, causing each of the five to react with spasms, and reminding Cassandra of an important point. These people, whether guilty or not, were tied to the catastrophe, and they would perish along with everyone else. They deserved a say in this, if only to break the dissension and disagreement that threatened to divide the remaining of the faith, if nothing else.
"How do you think we should proceed?" she asked of them, a silence taking place before a reasonable voice said, "Split our forces. Some of us go through the mountains, and the others charge."
The nobleman had spoken, making his way to the front. A new determination took place in his eyes as he stood next to the girl, Alessa.
"I volunteer to charge. 'Bold in Deed' is in my heritage, and I will not let myself, or history, put it to shame."
Something was happening between the two, the Seeker could see it. The man had given the mage girl a slight glance as he had said these things, but her look of inquiry towards him had stretched longer, and some sort of shocked realization had dawned. It seemed today was the revealer of more than one truth. But, this would have to wait, as the dwarf woman had stepped forward and spoke as well.
"I charge. I won't survive for a trial," she said, looking straight into the eyes of the Chancellor as she said so.
"I am familiar with reconnaissance and stealth, let me go through the mountains," the elf spoke, looking confident as she said these things. She thought she heard Varric chuckle and mutter another rogue.
"I - uh, am not afraid of anything lurking in the dark, I can go through the mountains," the qunari boy spoke, hefting the greatsword he'd borrowed as he actually looked excited.
"It also seems you are able in spirit magic. I can feel the ebb and flow of it through my connection with the Fade," Solas said with a smile and nod to the boy, who chuckled bashfully making Cassandra shake her head.
"Get him a staff then. That means we could use one with the ability of magic on the direct route," she said, looking directly at Alessa, who after a moment gave a nod, and said, "I will do what it takes."
"Good. We will need all of your resolve. Leliana, bring everyone left in the valley. Everyone," she emphasized, looking once more to the hole in the sky. While they had decided on a course of action, this next task would be all the more arduous, and she resolved not to be found wanting in the Maker's eyes, even as she heard as she walked away Roderick mutter, "On your head be the consequences, Seeker."
Aden
It was when they had been first exposed to the cold mountain air that he'd noticed her, clarity returning to him as the cold bit his skin. What was it with all these sobering experiences lately? But, for the first time in forever, he was grateful for it. He couldn't remember what had occurred. Much like one of his bar brawls, the event was muddled, but not like in a haze as if he was in a drunken stupor, but one that simply wasn't there. It was as if a demented surgeon had taken his ability to remember beyond the initial chaos at the Temple, all he could remember being the screaming, and desperation. Desperation to protect his kin. People that were now dead, in all reality.
Don't come back, Asher had dismissed him, if they don't. It was his last chance. They were dead, possibly at his hands, if the woman soldier had anything to say about it. And say she did. The woman was spritely, and all too eager to see his head on a pike if matters dictated it. But that was not his main focus in the chaos. No, it was her. The girl, he guessed was on the cusp of adulthood, golden curls billowing in the wind, her eyes filled with pious fire that fueled her determination. When she had said her name out loud, everything else faded away despite it all, as he focused on her.
Alessa. Could it be? His sister who'd been spirited away without a second thought from his family, because that's how it's always been. Magic serves man. Had she become a simple vessel for others to accomplish their wills, simply because she was capable of it? He'd heard the fervent praying she had done when everyone's attention was elsewhere on their blasted journey to the ruined Temple.
Blessed are the peacemakers, the champions of the just, she had recited as she fought off the rift demons. Oh Alessa.
He wanted to reach out, but knew he needed to wait for the right moment when they could have a private word. He wanted to get this right. He wanted to do something right, all the more earnestly if it was her. He had to protect her. She may not know him as he had known her so long ago, but that did not matter. She was his blood. Maybe all that was tangibly left in the face of all this.
And so, he waited, and found it, the moment he needed, stepping forward as a sacrifice, reciting that bullshit line he never believed in about being 'Bold in Deed'. It meant nothing coming from the Trevelyans. But, maybe in a sense, he did want to channel that notion now, in the face of the end, and her. There was another reason for using the family's creed, seeing it was possibly the only thing she remembered from back then, as their family had recited it before sitting down to each evening meal. Such pretentiousness.
But, he was right, as he managed to grab her attention as he moved to the fore. He could feel her gaze, even as he kept the soldier woman's attention, Lady Pentaghast. And so, when the Chantry authorities had moved off to prepare for the push towards whatever awaited them, he took his chance.
"Miss Alessa, correct? A word, if I may," he asked, grabbing her attention, channeling his father's "noble speak" just in case this wasn't what he thought it was. But, one look from her crystal blue eyes told him he was absolutely correct. Maker, it is her.
"Aden," she murmured as she came close, giving him a look. "What are you doing here?"
Before he could answer that, he moved to embrace her, wrapping his swarthy arms around her, just to show her he was there, but then he noticed the gesture was not reciprocated. He slowly backed away, searching her eyes. "I - I do not know, my memory is not intact, but of course I could spot you from a mile away. Are you okay?"
"I am fine. The Maker has sustained me this far," she asserted, but he could hear the flatness in her voice. He then realized, this wasn't welcome. Despite all that was transpiring around them, she was not all too happy for a family reunion.
In all honesty, he couldn't blame her for a second. She'd been essentially cast out of the Trevelyan clan with no objection, sent to a Circle to live out the rest of her days like a hermit, or at very least, a hermit among hermits. No ability to embrace a life without constraints.
You didn't even write her, he heard Gran-Gran say in his head. The woman even in her death found cause to manifest herself like an old witch. But the voice had a point. Alessa could hate him as much as the rest, and she'd be justified. He had to make things right. And he would start now, and continue on till she saw otherwise. He would not be a typical Trevelyan.
Being cautious with his tone, he said in a low voice, so as to not attract any more attention, "Alessa, I hope to rekindle everything that has been lost over the years, but first we need to escape all this. When we charge, I want you to stay behind me. I will take the brunt of the attacks, so you can be safe. I will not say no to a few ice wards though," he said, tacking on some of his signature humor at the end to try and alleviate tension, while acknowledging her obvious exceptional powers.
She simply stared at him, gaze as glacial as the snow around them. "I am in no need of protection, Aden. The Maker watches over our mission, and will see it to completion for His and Andraste's glory," she said with what had to be the most textbook answer from a Chantry supplicant, before she simply walked away, approaching Lady Pentaghast to discuss something, leaving Aden speechless. This would be a tougher bender to recover from than he expected, and he would be proven immeasurably right.
What remained of the scattered and shambled forces of the Chantry coalesced, brought together by a plan, one they were told was assembled by the remaining authorities known as the Right and Left Hand of the fallen Divine. It would have to be enough. The hole in the sky was only swelling larger, putting urgency to everyone's actions as the two distinct parties at the forward camp pushed forward.
The direct charge was led by the Right Hand, while the divertive push through the mountains was led by the Left, the five holders of the Mark casting down the demonic entities found in their path, as those intertwined with their journey did as well. Lady Nightingale's party managed to save the remaining scouts, Scout Lace Harding, a dwarf herself of Hinterlands repute, being one that cannot be left out of note. They then joined forces with Lady Pentaghast's party at the entrance to the Temple, finding a not-so-new dispute taking place.
"Mistress Orwen, is it? You...oh dear Maker, Randford, what did you do!" Commander Cullen Rutherford was saying, looking positively conflicted as he paced, not taking his eyes of the female dwarf in front of him.
"What is going on?" Leliana asked as she and her party came abreast with the rest.
"My name is Cadash," the stern dwarf spoke in correction, causing the former Templar to go wide-eyed.
"You're a Carta member! I should've seen this...I chalked up Randford's ability to get a surplus for the mass amount of Templars assembled as just his experience, but -"
"All the questions can wait, Cullen. We all have them. These five have proved willing to seal the Breach, so let us do that," Cassandra interjected, though her eyes stayed wary of Cadash. The Knight-Commander sighed.
"Indeed. There must be questioning, but there are greater things at stake." He gestured to the shattered entrance of the Temple. "The way through should be cleared. Leliana's scouts will provide a safe route forward," he said with a nod to the robed woman, who nodded in agreement.
"Then we best move quickly! Give us time, Commander," Cassandra orated.
"Maker watch over you, for all our sakes," the Commander replied with solemnity before dashing off to do his duty.
NOW IS THE HOUR OF OUR VICTORY, everyone heard as they descended to the epicenter of the Temple, and Breach. BRING FORTH THE SACRIFICE.
"What are we hearing?" Cassandra asked, voice on the edge of dread at the ominous declaration.
"If I could venture a guess - the individual who created the Breach," Solas answered, eyes shrewdly flitting here and there as he took in the twisted surroundings.
As they all turned a jagged corner in their effort to reach the bottom, Cadash and Varric almost in unison suddenly cursed, turning heads as they noticed something dreadly familiar. "Red Lyrium! Do you see this Seeker?"
"Get away. Now," Cadash ordered, eyes wide at the sight as she gave a glare.
"I do Varric. And what do you know of it?" Cassandra asked the female dwarf with a pointed look bordering on suspicion.
"Very bad. In the Deep Roads," she answered flatly and with no further explanation, causing the soldier to scoff softly. This would be something they would have to explore as well.
"Magic could've drawn on lyrium beneath the Temple. Corrupted it," Solas offered as he sidestepped the significantly-sized crystals with a look of disdain.
Varric drew in a sharp breath as he said, "It's evil! Whatever you do, don't touch it!" Cadash let out an agreeing huff to this, looking absolutely livid that she was within a thousand paces of it.
KEEP THE SACRIFICE STILL, they heard as they neared the bottom, and then, "Someone! Help me!"
"That is Divine Justinia's voice!" Cassandra noted, with emotion definitively in her voice now.
They reached the bottom of the massive Breach, everyone jumping down with grunts, before suddenly the Marks flared, and an apparition took place. Rather, several apparitions depicting the same scene played out from different angles, depicting each of the five coming upon the Divine, wreathed in red magic. And in front of her, a wraith, black presence with baleful red eyes, the origin of the baritone voice.
"Run while you can!" Justinia shouted, her voice trembling with terror.
"The Divine called out to you!" Cassandra breathed, turning to the five, who looked just as awestruck and speechless in the wake of this.
SLAY THE INTRUDERS, the wraith uttered as he alternated looking at the five, before the vision shattered, and they were left in the ruins.
"You were there! Who attacked? And the Divine, was she - was this vision true? What are we seeing?" Cassandra commanded, turning on them once more, but eyes settling on someone who seemed the most conducive in terms of wanting to know as well, Alessa. But her eyes avoided the soldier's, as her head shook vigorously.
"I don't remember…" she muttered, looking confused and as if she was trying to grasp something not there. The rest of them echoed this thought, frustration visibly taking place on Cadash's face, as both Adaar and elder Trevelyan looked like they'd be sick. But it was Lavellan that spoke, remembering something her father had mentioned finding in his travels.
"Echoes of what happened here, maybe," she offered, though cautiously, her tone on the verge of a question so as to avoid undue attention.
"Indeed," Solas nodded with a look at her, their gazes, academic both, locking for a slight second, "The Fade bleeds it."
He began pacing as he looked up at the construct. "This rift is not sealed, but closed. I believe that your collective Marks can open the rift, then seal it safely. But we must be ready - doing so will certainly attract attention from the other side."
"That means demons! Stand ready!" Cassandra shouted to all the forces around, soldiers taking their place at various vantage points as the ground party readied themselves as well.
The final action was ready to take place. The five came together, flashing their palms towards the massive rift, the magic co-mingling and interacting with the rift in a spectacular way, a chain reaction taking place as the magic almost combusted, and opened the rift and sending the five careening back, before the apostate's words came true - a gargantuan Pride demon suddenly emerged with a roar, the Right Hand of the Divine shouting at the top of her lungs, "Now!"
Arrows from two dozen different quivers loosed, but only served to irritate the superior-armored demon, who coalesced a whip of lightning ether, scattering all in vicinity, the five barely escaping its reach as they recovered.
They sprung into action the best they knew how with this unknown enemy - Lavellan dashed here and there, using her superior physiology to evade the main weapon of the demon as she slashed with her daggers at chinks in the armor, opening up vulnerable and exploitable sinews and holding up the demon's focus as it was additionally frozen by the actions of Alessa Trevelyan with her ice wards, and Solas's own Fade magic, the older veteran finding ways to play off the scattershot, but powerful bursts from the girl, amplifying them as much as he could to freeze the actions of the terrible spirit.
Then there was Adaar, who, because of his pointed training, was inclined more to a greatsword, and found himself roaring in excitement as he beat back and with immense strength split open the secondary demons that came through, keeping them away from fatefully distracting the defenders.
Elder Trevelyan was the first to find and notice the vulnerable cuts caused by Ellana, firing a double quiver into each of them as he called out and spotted shots for the soldiers around, further weakening the attacking forces of darkness.
And then there was Cadash, who'd fashioned crude explosives in the time before the attack with the little resources she had and used her small form to evade much of the attacks, even using Adaar's body as a springboard to throw the incendiaries higher and farther into the face of the Pride demon, startling it and incapacitating its vision. "Hey!" Oren shouted at the dwarf after the action, causing her to grin viciously and shrug in return as she dashed off again.
"Quickly! Disrupt the rift!" Solas shouted through the din of battle, grabbing the closest of the five, this time Aden, to overload the rift's magic, and fatally causing the Pride demon to be incapacitated for a second as Cassandra shouted, "The demon is vulnerable - now!"
The entire host of people pounced, Oren charging with a battlecry, Cadash throwing the last of her explosives, Aden rapid-firing his quiver, Alessa draining her mana to increase her glacial blasts, and Ellana darting at the Pride demon's lowered head, using a horn for leverage to stab straight into the spirit's eye, causing it to roar as it lost all control, and collapse.
"Now! Seal the rift, all of you!" Solas shouted before the demon could possibly recover, the five urgently heeding his call.
The five streams of magic made contact with the shuddering Breach once more, but this time the explosion would be immense, being the third largest in name, drawing cries of immense pressure from each of them as the magic took its course, finally blasting the local rift into nothing as the energy coursed upward and into the maelstrom, sealing it, but in the process rendering our five heroes, the conduits of such an immense display of power, into a black void of unconsciousness.
A/N: Welcome, welcome patrons. I'm InvisibleWizard.
This story has been a ton of fun to walk through and plan out. Unsated Explorateur and I have been cooking this up for quite some time and it's a crazy thought to think it's out in the wild now. I had the idea for this story a few years ago after my umpteenth or so playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition and had tossed ideas around about it for a long time. It wasn't until I talked to my good friend, Unsated Explorateur, earlier this year that things actually started taking form. Truth be told, I started to become more interested with his ideas on the direction of the story than my own. Eventually he took the reigns of the story and it's him that made it what it is today.
UE: (He needs to stop the flattering. My wonder with the realm and people of Thedas directly originates from his grand tales and regaling.)
IW: I have written a few things for the story. Some of the character, backgrounds, and a good chunk of what you've seen of the Trevelyans' character formation is my doing. So if you see a stark change in writing style, there's your answer as to why. I also have a few ideas for some of the needed paralogues and companion interaction between the cast, even having some of them written out, so I'm not completely on the sidelines. I'm also here to make sure he doesn't get too esoteric and involved in the intricacies of mortality and faith. While we enjoy that type of conversation, it doesn't exactly translate well to fiction.
UE: (Although that doesn't stop me from trying :))
IW: As the story progresses I hope you see that this is a labor of love. We both adore Dragon Age deeply. We were already good friends before introduced to the series, but this game has only given us more to laugh and bond over. I may not be doing the heavy lifting, hence this being posted under his profile, but I do feel a sense of pride in this work. So here's to Dragon Age, Thedas, and the future of the franchise!
(Also, please read Unsated Explorateur's other works. Specifically "The Causality Effect". If you like Mass Effect, it's fan fiction gold.)
UE: (Stop it, I'm blushing.)
UE: But, to wrap up his exceptional summary of our motivations behind writing this story of an ensemble cast: Thedas is a wondrous place, and the thought of being able to cast the events of Inquisition in a new light through both the strengths and, to be honest, weaknesses of each of the five playable characters? It 'twas too good of an opportunity to pass up. So, please, sit back, and relax, and enjoy The Tales of the Heralds. We truly do appreciate your patronage, and your imagination going along with us on this journey. May the Dread Wolf look kindly on you in all you do.