I cannot see the path.

Perhaps there is only abyss.

Trembling, I step forward,

In darkness enveloped.

Trials 1:14

'Solas.'

Solas held two fingers to his forehead – not knowing whether he welcomed or dreaded the interruption; whatever his sight could reach, he had already seen, and though the events had not been unexpected, the speed at which the unchanging world was unraveling had left him shocked and saddened.

Perhaps it was indeed the time to look away.

'I have seen it all, Abelas.' He tiredly said.

He had. From the Free Marches the disease of creeping truth had spread to Nevarra and Antiva, to Orlais and Rivain, to Ferelden. To the Dales….and, as the Fade reflected the world around it, it was no wonder that his thinning of the veil had left naught but chaos and death in its wake. Death and chaos was all the mortals of this tranquil world could muster, and the exceptions were so very few that they were not mentionable.

'Tevinter's dragons awake,' Abelas said.

Solas found it in himself to smile; Tevinter, he thought, he had not watched, or at least, not for this. 'The dragons of Tevinter are no dragons, Abelas.' He said.

'I know that; they are far more dangerous.' Abeles replied. 'And we…'

'…we had no hand in it, I assure you,' Solas sighed.

Another strike of terrible fortune, he told himself, probably the one he could least afford now; he had begun to thin the veil out of simple, cold calculation – though he'd not expected quite this scale of a cataclysm, he'd needed the human nations to look elsewhere.

He'd not removed it altogether yet, for he was not yet in any position to renew the prison of the Evanuris. Even with Mythal's strength, even though his own strength had grown immensely…

But Veldrin had opened the games with skill and alacrity by enlisting Morrigan's aid, something he had not expected; he knew that the witch had had little choice in the matter, if, as he'd found out, Leliana had taken her son. Their plan, her plan was sound, and with the voices of the Well of Sorrows whispering long lost truths, all that he'd created here was in great danger of unravelling…The thought of the other, much older prison had slipped his mind, because that one had been placed under two seals, and he only had the key to one of them. The other key…

'How many of them?' he queried, struggling to keep his thoughts from wondering. 'Four of the seven are dead in the Blights; the essence of one is our prisoner. This leaves…'

'Two,' Abelas responded. 'Two too many, Solas; whatever eyes we still have in Minrathous assure me only one has made his presence known, yet we cannot assume that now, that he is free, he will not wake the other.'

There was no outright reproach in the Sentinel's voice, yet Solas still keenly felt it; the pace at which he was proceeding was not to Abelas' liking and this mistake – if indeed it was his mistake…

He decisively shook his head.

'The thinning of the veil might have made them setting themselves free easier, Abelas, but their millennia long sleep was not of my making. I would not have awoken them. I could not have.'

'I know that,' Abelas said, and this time, Solas felt the reproach lacing his voice. 'And if it was not our doing, it could only have been the work of Tevinter. Your woman's work,' he added, shaking his head; Solas closed his eyes, and breathed out slowly.

Of course. Veldrin – the bone of contention that had lain on the table between them since the very beginning, from that fateful first encounter in the Temple of Mythal…Some of his actions in her regard had been understood as necessity; the focus orb had had to be retrieved in one way or another; even their last meeting could outwardly pass for useful, for indeed, Veldrin had dissolved the Inquisition, and made their work in Thaedas far easier.

Still, many voices had even then risen to whisper that her death, whether by letting the Mark complete its work, or by staging an assassination by the Qunari, might have accomplished the same goal; that Solas had let slip the one enemy who knew him best, and contented himself to let her slip further and further out of his reach by allowing her to ally herself with their ancestral enemies in Tevinter. Her hasty marriage to Dorian Pavus, her progress there…

Time and perceived lack of action had dulled the attention she was given, as the organization itself had focused on evading Briala, Leliana and the Chantry; then, their focus on her had truly receded, partly because she had kept herself hidden in plain sight, but also because there had been precious little to report on but her apparently flawless happiness in marriage and the miraculous recovery of her arm.

Solas himself had taken all those minor reports in his stride, even forcing himself to not think of the fact that such flawless marital bliss, in a society that above all, valued lineage, should not have remained childless, and that, perhaps…

He chased the thought now, for it was useless. Any hope he might have had that Veldrin had respected his last request and had simply sought to be live happily, for as long or as little as her world had left had been dashed – at first by what he'd learned of her plans, and then by the fact that his enduring…

Interest? He tried to think; the word was wrong, as was affection. The only word he could not avoid was love…His love for her, the fear of what might happen to her in the wake of his attack on Tevinter had been used against him, and led him terribly astray. Veldrin's bait and switch had both been a private heartbreak, and a public humiliation, precisely at the time when he could afford neither; she had hidden herself from him in the Fade, now he had lost even mortal sight of her – and she was, undoubtedly, moving.

He'd not been called on it, not in the turmoil of preparation, but he'd known this hour would come, and that his position was weak.

'I was never bonded with Veldrin.' Solas rather pointlessly said.

'It is good that you were not. She is no Elvhen like you or I.'

Solas looked to Abelas, wondering whether he should have reminded him that it had been Veldrin who had found him and shown him mercy, as he had done before when the subject had been broached. Saying it now would be pointless, however – there was clearly no limit to the things Veldrin could, and would awake.

'I doubt she willingly…'

Abelas shook his head, refuting the words before they were fully spoken; inwardly Solas felt relieved.

Yes, his Veldrin would not have willingly awoken Tevinter's dragons, but his Veldrin was long gone – the woman who inhabited her skin was unknown to him, and had been so for a good half decade. The Sentinel was right; something must have dangerously shifted, and the awakening of the Old Gods could only have been caused by Veldrin, and perhaps Magister Pavus' actions, for if the Magisterium itself had known how to interrupt their slumber, they might have done so centuries before.

Corypheus and his Venatori certainly would have.

'What terrible mistiming,' he whispered. 'I've thinned the veil, and she…'

Abelas did not even shift.

Solas breathed in and out, slowly and carefully. 'You want me to kill her, I take it.'

The Sentinel did not shrug or nod, but the expression in his golden eyes spoke more than enough, and Solas looked away.

'We all do,' Abelas coldly said. 'The humans, even the human in her bed, have no power without her; sooner or later, they will all fall to their natures, and the denizens of the darkness they unwittingly conjure. Even the strongest and purest among them, the ones who will survive the broken veil will waste away from prolonged exposure to the very air that feeds us… Your woman is different, Solas, she knows too much…She certainly plans to destroy us all, Dread Wolf. Defend your pack and your principles.' Abelas said. 'Kill her.'

Yes…What was one more kill, in the end? All he had seen, though his eluvian was enough killing, pointless killing all across the continent. Pointless killing, killing he had enticed and enabled. He was not a monster, or rather he did not think of himself as one – it was a delusion.

Judging by what he had done, not once but thrice, he was the greatest monster of them all.

Was there a choice? he wondered. He'd meant to restore his world, yes, but he had not intended to torture this one to such an extent – even the minor thinning of the veil had set it ablaze, and yes, there was the option of allowing the chaos to consume it fully, before his true battles could begin. The sudden return of Tevinter's dragons was an unpredicted hindrance, but only if they had awoken strong, and if they could find significant allies…Would the Magisterium turn on the Chantry as fast as they had turned on their Old Gods?

He had no doubt they would, adding another dimension of unrest to Theadas, yet, in all truthfulness, all the Imperium could muster, even in the presence of its dragons…the dragons who were no dragons at all, was a human army, a human fleet...one he'd deprived of logistical support, and one that was already being sabotaged by the weakness of the Shem in the overwhelming presence of the Fade.

Still, even if still weak, the Old Gods would have knowledge, crucially, they would recognise Morrigan for what she was – whatever forces they could muster, they would be forces who knew where to find him; an army who knew where to find all his still defenseless people. He felt his heart was caving from within.

Solas looked out upon the recovering metropolis about him, in what was slowly becoming Arlathan – a ruin he had willed back into existence, and which was now bustling with innocent life by his will alone. He'd never intended for his too tried people to shed blood on his behalf; he'd caused them enough terrible grief, and by his fault alone, too much of their blood had been shed already.

While Vel, his rare and precious Vel, already knew too much and was learning too fast; the more power she gathered, the longer it would take to defeat her, and the longer the world he'd wished to end, but not drown in its own blood, would suffer.

He gripped his hands behind his back.

'We are, then, sure that she is no longer in Minrathous?' he asked, closing his eyes; the surrender caused Abelas' tone to soften.

'As reasonably sure as we can be, yes.' the Sentinel gently said.

'How shall we find her?' Solas asked, softly shaking his head.

Before the Old Gods do, he thought. Before what I had hoped would be a pointed strike will turn into a lengthy massacre, and I…

'Tevinter knows where she is,' he reasoned, biting his lower lip. 'The dragons will force them to move.'

Behind him, Abelas nodded. 'It may also be that she will find you.' He neutrally said. 'They do have an eluvian,' he reminded. 'They have not managed to introduce it to the Crossroads yet, but I assume it is only a matter of time.'

'Time is precisely the one thing we do not have, my friend,' Solas said. 'Please, find her.'

Find her before I lose my resolve.

Good evening, all! Well, he had to make an appearance at some point, didn't he? And, of course, it had to be suitably ominous. I guess the games are seriously on now...

Sorry about the rather short installment, we'll be back later in the week with a rather more consistent chapter, where Cassandra and Radonis will make an acquaintance I am sure neither will relish too much.

Thank you for reading and commenting!