Running On Empty: A Helping Hand


The next room was a mess. Tree limbs and roots slithered out of the ground, the stonework walls were busted and crumbling, the shadows of the visions I saw flickered helplessly, their forms weak and distorted. Skeletons hung from the ceiling, swinging by their tattered nooses. Cole showed up at my shoulder, his head ducked and his gaze pointed toward the center of the room.

Soldiers stood together, terrified. Their armor was one that I recognized from my trips to Val Royeaux, glimmers of faint gold and shields of lions heads, roaring. They huddled together and their whispers carried over to me as I stepped closer, attempting to get around the protruding roots without killing myself with a trip.

"The chevaliers couldn't stop them?" The youngest soldier peered up, eyes hollow and mouth a blackened hole.

The older soldier scoffed, his whole face a shadow, the voice broken up. "There weren't enough of them, boy. Val Royeaux is burning! The Herald marches here next, bringing even more demons."

"What's the point in attacking Orlais?" I asked myself, the visions disappearing once I passed through them.

-SO YOU'RE CURIOUS. SHALL I MAKE USE OF THAT WHEN I'M YOU?-

I winced, feeling stupid that I had allowed my mouth its moment of freedom. Cole ghosted up next to me, his hand coming to my elbow and gently applying pressure. A spark of surprise shivered through me as I glanced down and noticed the touch. I had felt it, the gentle touch on the elbow of my left arm. My numb arm. He caught my surprise and shushed me with a finger to his lips, looking up at the ceiling.

"You're letting the Herald see more to sketch her shapes, but what she sees makes her stronger." The very last bit he said to me, his gaze lowered to my face. A pulse went through my arm and only for the barest of moments did I regain control of my fingers. It was gone in an instant, but it was enough. The demon's grip was letting go the longer I pushed, the harder I fought, the stronger I got.

I flashed Cole a grin.

-QUIET!-

The next door, mercifully, opened to a yawning courtyard and relief swarmed my soul. I wasn't necessarily claustrophobic, but when you had a low and dripping ceiling over your head, no windows, and door after door after door was much the same, you started to get a little stir-crazy. A Sloth greeted me at the door as I opened it, but Cole came up behind me and shoved a hand between my shoulders, getting me past the demon.

I fell into a combat-roll and jumped to my feet, taking the hint to continue running.

-YOU WISH TO BE DIFFICULT, THEN SEE THE LEGACY OF THE INQUISITION!-

Fucking fresh hell, there were more stairs.

-IT'S FOLLOWERS HOSTS TO DEMONS, YOUR WORLD ASHES SHALL BE-

"Keep going forward, you're almost there." Cole's gentle voice broke through the roaring in my head. My left hand was tested again, I attempted to curl my fingers and nearly vomited in joy when they curled into my palm, the Mark on my hand a soft, dim light, but it pulsed gently within my skin.

"What do I do, then?" I asked him, testing a gate lock. I could hear the whispers of demons manifesting behind me and it frightened me enough to grip the bars on one side of the gate and raise my foot to smack my heel against the lock.

"You're making it harder for Envy to think. He'll probably come out soon." And if that wasn't the most nonchalant tone I had ever heard. Giving up on the lock, I looked around and spotted the lever, reaching for it and slapping it down with my right palm, playing chicken with the demons that approached.

With Cole's encouragement echoing in my head, my feet continued to bring me up and up. The courtyard twisted and turned, shadows of soldiers and civilians flashed out of my peripheral vision as I sped along up the stairs and through the broken crates and barrels. A stitch had formed on my right side and I raised a fist to beat it out, wheezing as I ran. Some of the soldiers took wild swings at me with their swords, but I didn't have time to waste, I pushed on, desperately looking for a way out.

It wasn't until I took a tumble past another mad swing that I recognized a series of steps that led up to a very familiar door. Enraged at having been lost, literally, in my own thoughts - in a memory that was less than a fucking hour old - my stride took me up toward the entrance of the fortress, rage fueling each step and ignoring the pain in my knees.

You slithering, greasy, meddling piece of a fucking cancerous hemorrhoid when I get out of here I am sending your ass to hell in nine different fucking sections torn by my bare hands.

As I came to the door, there was a hard shove that caught me in the back. Vicious and snarling, I turned to see my Shadow Self and she gripped the front of my armor and shoved me up against the door. Infuriated at this whole circus of a shit show, I drew my little forgotten knife from my belt and brought it up to stab Shadow Jaime in the meaty part of her thigh. I should have been thoroughly surprised that I hit flesh, but the creature screamed at me.

"Unfair, unfair! That thing kept you whole, kept you from giving me your shape!"

"What the fuck could you gain from being me, you goddamn stool sample!"I took another stab at her leg and she released me, howling, her hands coming up to her face, smothering her emerald blazed eyes.

She curdled her scream, "We'll start again! More pain this time, The Elder One still comes!" A shadowy figure appeared over her shoulder, looming and blood-red, but it faded as Cole's voice drifted to us.

"It's frightened of you." He murmured, amazed.

Another yowling scream as she turned to Cole, "GET OUT OF-"

My knife found her neck this time.

Sparks flew from the shadow's neck and ignited along my armor, the shine growing bright and then blasting like a flash-bang grenade, howls and vicious whispers trembling through my head. As the light faded and my eyes blinked back the shock, my hand found itself gripped around the neck of a mangled, multi-limbed demon.

Fear should have made me let go.

Fury had me quick-draw my real knife from my belt and catch the demon in its clavicle before it launched itself away from me with a mighty push. I tumbled back and smacked shoulders-first into a hardened, laboring chest, harsh breaths rained down over my head. It took me a handful of seconds to recognize Bull's arm around my waist, his voice in my ears, but I was still in the throws of a fucking conniption fit.

"You lousy fucking piece of gutter shit!" I snarled, nearly escaping Bull's hard hold. He held on tighter as I struggled. "I'll make good on my goddamn promise, clown car, wait until I get my hands on you!"

"Boss!" Bull shouted desperately with a good shake of his arm to jar me free of my rage. "Jaime, please!"

Ice cascaded down my back; he's never called me by my name before. Oh, I'm so fucked. My breathing came out in rapid, pained bursts, my neck hurting from the strain of slamming into Bull and my whole body from limb to limb was shaking with the effort to move. I was a rattlesnake in Bull's arms, vibrating with dripping fury and indignation.

Bull's arm tightened around my waist and kept my feet off the ground.

"Jaime," he was breathing hard, "calm down, boss, I got you. Shit."

"The Lord Seeker?" Barris watched as the demon howled at us and disappeared further into the fortress, the Templars within scattering momentarily as the Fade Fog dashed between them and seeped into the stonework.

"No," I exhaled, my voice rough from my yelling, "An imposter."

"That monster ensured we weren't prepared. I still don't know what we're up against." Barris led us inside, Bull tentatively dropped me to my feet and with a hesitant hand, offered me my forgotten maul. I took it without question, vastly and vehemently reassured not only to have it, but to grip it with my left hand. The Mark pulsed as it did with a rift, but it wasn't a distraction.

"It's an Envy demon." I pulled my maul up to rest on my shoulders, taking comfort from its weight. I couldn't spare a glance for my companions, I wasn't ready for what they saw in my fury. We needed to get through this first and I would deal with the repercussions later. Bull's voice echoing my name still rang through my ears and I pushed down the fright it stirred in me. What did he see, I wonder, when I came back into the world of the living?

"Envy? Maker." Barris shook his head, eyes closed in pain. "Then the real Lord Seeker is caged or dead."

I could only offer him a nod.

"It used the red lyrium to corrupt The Order, didn't it?" He snapped, mouth pulled back in anger. "I knew that miserable stuff was risky!" Bull shouldered his maul as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Vivienne gently lay a hand on his shoulder and the cast of a healing spell, faint and weak, pass over him. Blackwall eyed me sideways and I ignored the searching look.

"They often give us new kinds of lyrium. Our Commanders... some used the red stuff first, to prove it was harmless." Barris shook his head, the corners of his mouth turned up in a quiet snarl. "The knights would've been next. That demon turned our leaders so we couldn't question when this started!"

"It's a clever liar, we know that now." I answered, my grip on my maul twisting the handle on my shoulder. "We're gonna have to bring the best for this one, we can't have anyone fall to its game." Barris' face hardened, jaw tight and he turned to one of his kin.

"Templar!" He called out, glaring them down. "What is Envy!"

"A coward!" She hollered back, teeth clenched. "It studies its prey while they dream, makes less mistakes, but most of all: it hides."

Barris nodded, green eyes flashing to me. "We need our veterans, our Commanders have turned, but the lieutenants may still be fighting." He paused, his brow tight with thought. "We'll hold the hall. You find the lieutenants and the untainted lyrium. Bring them here, and I'll give you Envy."

Had I not been reeling from my own personal trauma and revelations, I would have been utterly charmed by the speech. Such as it was, I had no time to waste swooning when there was a desperate fight to be had. With a glance to the group behind me, tired and sweating through their armor, I nodded to them and prompted them to follow. I took the first door closest to me out of the hall and into the surrounding yards.

We were immediately beset by a horde of demons and something new I hadn't encountered before. Though the creature appeared to be heavy enough to be encumbered by its own person, its legs brought it swiftly up to my face. Diabolical looking red stalagmites sheared through their shoulders and down their backs along their spines. Their faces were mutilated by the protrusions and their screams were muffled by the jutting crystals in their mouths.

The sight was more unsettling than any demon I had ever seen, because within all that ghoulish, gutted, gruesome deformity, I could see the frenzied eyes of a human. Hesitation only gripped me for a moment before my Mark pulsed and my maul automatically came away from my shoulder, catching the approaching creature in the shoulder as it dodged.

There was no sign of humanity in it anymore, and yet with every scream and howl it unleashed, my Mark caught the echoing undertones of a human's voice, crying out in terror. Tears sprung to my eyes unwittingly and I did my best to keep my aim true as I swung to fight them off. The creature was unrelenting and I was exhausted by my excursion into my thoughts, into my mind.

"It's alright." Cole's gentle voice floated between my ears. "Once you help them let go, they're free. It's alright. I'll follow them."

Merciful Maker, I hope he was right.

In the end, four of them went down and we managed to reach on of the lieutenants. She had been corned up against a stack of crates and was hastily making whatever small bombs she could with the supplies she had. We nearly lost Blackwall's head as she lobbed one at him in surprise. The path was clear and I gave her my small knife before she made a swift retreat back to the hall. As we ran back, something caressed my Mark.

It was so unlike the other violent sensations that I had with the damn thing that I nearly tripped over my own feet at the sensation. At my pause, the caress returned and something drew my eyes from my Mark to another door, a few meters away from the center of the yard. My feet jerked for a moment before I decided to approach, wondering what led me.

"You need to see this." Cole's voice doubled over itself in my thoughts. "Look to where the shadows lie and find the liar."

Entering the room was like stepping into a Jigsaw playground. A bust of the Empress Celene sat in the center of a table that was marred and stained by red lyrium and possibly blood. The walls were covered with frantic, wide eyes, all within arms' reach just above my head. Candles were lit and burning low, ready to set flame to the wooden table and straw that lay beneath it. With one deep inhale, I extinguished most of them.

Cole's hand appeared and took out the rest, making me jump.

"The Elder One wants her dead, Empress Celene." He murmured, pointing to the parchment that was nailed into the bust. "He hates her, haunts her, wants her dead, but hides why. He hid other things, too." There was a rattling sound behind me, the door being banged against the wall. For a second time, I nearly jumped right out of my skin and with a sharp glance, I spotted Bull at the door.

His expression held his features darkly, his brow heavy over his eye patch.

I took the signal for what it was, a warning of my weirdness, and continued on with them, snatching the note from the bust before running out. A hard swallow went down my throat and I dodged around Bull to get out the door. Vivienne and Blackwall were shoring up the yard to keep more demons from coming in after we locked the hall's door. We couldn't stop to help the Templars as Barris shoved me away when we attempted, and so onward we ran to the next lieutenant.

This fortress was massive and after four or five retrievals of lieutenants, I was ready to pass out. My temples felt ready to burst from the sides of my head, it was a fight trying to keep my eyesight level with the ground and my arms were starting to tremble. Though my endurance and strength were better now than they ever had been back at home, on Earth; I was not superhuman.

Blackwall and Vivienne looked to be straining as well. The Warden rested his forehead over the back of his hands that held his shield up and Vivienne relented to take one of the vials of lyrium Barris had offered her. Bull stayed with me, within arm's reach, and rested his back against a nearby structural pillar. The fighting in the yards had been cleared, the lieutenants back with their knights. All that remained was the demon.

"Boss," Bull murmured to me from behind. My head rose from the pommel of my maul where it rested and I blinked at him owlishly. The smallest tick of a smile touched his lips before it faded. "That... what you said back there. What happened? One minute you were running up the steps and then next... you were spitting fire."

You're frozen, Cole had explained.

Oh, fuck me. No wonder they were looking at me like I was bat-shit insane. Thoughts were faster than light or time could ever be, on the best of days. What felt like hours to me, dealing with the Envy demon in my own head, must have been no more than one instant to another for my companions. I had gone from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye.

"When we get home," I coughed, voice rough from dehydration, "remind me to tell you, m'kay?"

"Promise?" He didn't quite plead, but the echoes of it came through, his eyebrows pinched up in concern.

"I promise, big guy." I wiped at my own brow and flicked it off the back of my hand. Barris returned from prepping his knights for the oncoming fight, the last of them given the minimum amounts of lyrium to be useful and still have a supply left in case everything went to shit in a hand basket.

"Right," Barris pinned me with a hard look, "keep them off of us, we'll bring down this beast." All I could do was nod, the sheer effort felt like it would rip my head off. With a swallow, my gaze lingered on the Templars, Barris taking a lyrium-protected flask from one of his kin and he drank it with a kiss. A few others followed suit, their energy revitalized.

I see what Cullen means, that the Templars could help. An undercurrent of energy thrummed through the hall, swords and shields echoed as they steadied together and lined up around the barrier that kept us out from the main courtyard that was at the back of the hall. My Mark hummed in my palm, the Templars raised their swords and together struck down.

Something sharp and vicious bit within my Mark, making it hiss and the Fade pocket within it lessened for a brief moment, dimming before coming back full force, snarling and pushing against the subduing ritual from the Templars. The Mark was raised up to my face and I watched, intrigued. The Mark pulsed with their chant, a counter to their efforts.

You don't like that, do you?

I lowered my hand and took my maul. No need to be even crazier and start talking to my hand again. There was a quake that shook the walls and bits of the ceiling fell down around our feet. Slowly my gaze drew up to the barrier and watched as it weakened, another gaggle of demons fighting to make their way through.

"They just don't stop, do they?" Blackwall muttered darkly and heaved his shield up.

Tiredly, I chuckled. "If your opponent is of choleric temper, irritate him."

"... Boss?" Bull asked, caught between amusement and exhaustion.

"It's from... something I heard a long, long time ago." The heel of my right palm rubbed at a spot between my eyebrows. "Basically, if he's a sore loser, let's piss him off."

"Wouldn't that just make him retaliate harder?" Blackwall countered, his sword drawn from its sheath once more.

Vivienne gave him a slow smirk. "Harder, perhaps, but with more mistakes."

"Let's see if he's still up for a dance." I stepped toward the weakening barriers, my companions behind me, and waited for the first to blow. It wasn't sudden, as you would think, the barrier gently peeled away, a ghostly drape that fluttered on a non-existent breeze. Barris and his Templars were behind us, their chants pulsing with each verse muttered. The first of the smallest demons came through, a withered and half-mangled Sloth.

It attempted to slither past me as it shot forward, but I was drained of any ability to care or to be cautious. My Mark reached out, fingers aglow with the Fade and snagged the yapping demon by the back of its robes. It howled at being caught, turning to face me with its one useful eye, but the Mark (either irritated by the chanting or strengthened by it) was quick to work.

The Sloth disintegrated in my hand, ashes swirling from my fingers. The numbness in my hand and arm was faint, but manageable. It was all I needed. With my maul swinging wide from the back of my hip, I launched forward. Bull came up with a hard lunge and broke ranks to smack into the barrier, his maul making short work of the first few demons. Vivienne's lightning shot around us, twittering like panicked birds and electrocuted whatever escaped The Iron Bull.

Blackwall and I were human, and stayed at the ready behind them, keeping our eyes open for the other barrier as it too began to fade away. It was moment more before he and I made a dash to the other side, allowing Vivienne and Bull to control the flow of battle on their end. Blackwall's shield came up as the first of the Sloths came through, followed by the Red Templars. My Mark growled with each swing, hissing against the handle of my maul. Numbness started to itch from my elbow up to my shoulder, but a cool, invisible hand stopped it.

"I can hold it back, but not for long." Cole soothed and his gentle touch vanished.

You'll give me long enough, honey. With my nerves renewed if not repaired, I continued on with Blackwall, hammering back the monsters as they drove into us, snapping and nicking their teeth and claws at our armor and trembling limbs. I tripped once or twice from my exhaustion, Bull or Blackwall pulling me to my feet. Left and right my Marked hand reached and ripped into what it could. It was useless against the Red Templars, but it was enough against the demons.

The last of the demons fell as the barriers that kept us out faded away completely. Barris and his men dropped to their knees, held up weakly by the grip on their swords. With what strength I could, my feet trotted over to them, catching Barris' shoulder. The man was drenched in sweat and his eyes blown wide.

"Th-there," he rasped, "get through, f-finish this."

My companions and I wasted no time. My maul was thrown onto my shoulder and we took the last of their small vials of healing potions before hurrying out from the main hall into the rear courtyard. The stonework was no better outside than it was inside, parts of the walls were already demolished and sections of the archways sagged in an effort to stay up. We came through down the stairs and in between two towering bronze statues of hooded mages, red lyrium clawing up from their feet.

The courtyard appeared empty, but I knew better. I stepped as close to the center as I could dare, my grip tight on my maul, and I waited. My Mark pulsed and demonic laughter reverberated throughout the yard. All three of my companions flinched from the sound and glanced about for its source.

-I TOUCHED SO MUCH OF YOU. BUT YOU ARE SELFISH WITH YOUR GLORY. NOW I'M NO ONE.-

"Join the fucking club, hot dog." I answered to the empty yard. A yowl echoed up from the ground under my feet and Bull reached for the scruff of my leathers to pull me back just in time as the demon breached from underneath, screaming and reaching for me.

"Dark and desperate, death to make yourself alive." Cole flickered just out of the corner of my vision, but none of my companions reacted to him, their eyes on the demon. "I used to be like you. I'm not anymore. You shouldn't be, either."

The demon shrieked at the vision of Cole before lunging at him. My body jerked as if to defend him, but Bull kept me tight against his chest, the vision of Cole disappeared from my sight with the demon tumbling through him. My throat swallowed reflexively as the featureless creature rounded on us.

"I don't have much magic left," Vivienne hissed at it, "but what I have, I saved for you, my dear."

It was the gunshot we needed. Bull and Blackwall rushed forward, leaving me behind. Vivienne's staff twirled over her head and slammed into the ground with the bulb tilted slightly toward the demon, a flare of electricity colliding with the demon and stunning it. Bull brought his maul over his head and roared as he brought it down with Blackwall herding it under the blow with his shield.

I kept my maul with me, even when I knew it would be useless. After the first blows, the demon screamed and dove into the ground like the Terrors were wont to do in poor circumstances. Blackwall and Bull immediately jumped away from the site of its disappearance and searched for it along the ground.

Vivienne and I got the retaliation. The creature came up under us again and before either one of us could dash out of the way, it gripped our ankles and dragged them into the earth. Vivienne hollered in anger and brought down the end of her staff to the hands that held her, a spark of fire lit up on contact and seared the skin nearly to black and boiling.

My leg was into the earth damn well up to my knee, the other bent behind me to keep me from going face first into the ground. There was a shout or a shriek that came out of my mouth, I could feel its hands claw at my leg and up my inner thigh and let me tell you, being felt up by a demon is the Ultimate Heebie-Jeebies.

Hard as I could, I attempted to yank my leg up out of the ground, but with every tug, the demon took the opportunity to shift me lower into the dirt. Blackwall came up like a shadow with his sword at the ready. He spared me a glance, worry flashing across his face before he gave a swift thrust and shoved the blade into the earth, inches from my leg.

The demon's hands released me and I scrambled like a madwoman to pull my leg free. Bull gave me a rough tug and hauled my ass upright. There was another crash behind me as more earth was thrown away as the demon came up a second time. Bull was ready for him and caught him across the face with his maul. Blackwall missed with a shield bash, but another lightning bolt from Vivienne stunned it long enough for the sword to come across its back.

Once more, it disappeared into the ground. Annoyed, my maul dragged across the ground and I sat where I stood, down onto my knees and hunched over my weapon, staring into the dirt.

"Boss!" Bull warned, but it was too late.

The demon took the bait.

-I WILL HAVE YOU-

"Eat shit, hot dog." I growled. The demon burst from the ground, dirt flying right into my eyes, but I reached out with my Marked hand and managed to lodge my index finger and thumb into his gaping mouth. He bit down hard enough to get through my gloves and draw blood, my companions yelling behind me as he dragged me halfway into the earth.

With as much effort as I could, I focused on my Mark, willing my mystical weapon to believe the demon was a rift that needed to be shut. Fade green tendrils shot out along the demon's face and neck like jellyfish barbs and my ears were deaf to the frantic howling of the demon I held. Something gripped my hips and yanked me back to the surface.

I dragged that demon with me, and with the power of the Mark, his head stretched and cleared his body, a definite snap sounded as the frail thread that held the demon within the living world was ripped, his body bursting into Fade sparks and fog.

A vicious grin flashed on my face. "Told you."

Time finally caught up to speed and in real time, I tumbled back with Bull, landing on my side with his twist, my right arm smashed into the ground. I winced and a groan escaped me, my arm throbbed hideously and my fingers were bleeding from my left hand.

"I," Bull growled as he leaned half over me, one arm braced to hold himself up and cage me in under him, "have had it up to here with your fucking ideas."

There was a quite pause.

"Are we counting to the tips of the horns or...?" I murmured, hunched sheepishly.

"Vashedan!" He growled at me before he shifted to a knee and stood up. "I won't have to kill you if you get out of control, you'll just do that yourself."

"She is rather full of surprises." Blackwall groused, kneeling against his shield and sword. Bull rounded on him with a sharp eye before shaking his head. Vivienne walked over to me, or hobbled really, as she favored her ankle and dropped to her knees next to me, a gentle cast of healing touched my neck.

"Thanks, Viv." I murmured and sat up. An eyebrow twitched at the name, but she said nothing and merely gave me a gentle nod. There was the distant patter of footfalls and we looked up to see our Templars running to meet us. Barris stood before them, the lieutenants a careful distance behind, and his eyes found me swiftly.

He jogged toward me, a hand out. "The demon is dead. Andraste be praised: she shielded you from its touch." A series of snorts escaped all three of my companions, traitorous fucks. I was hauled to my feet and gingerly tested my weight on my ankle, but decided better against it. Vivienne's spell took most of the pain, but not all of it.

"We've numbers across Thedas, but we let this happen." Barris held me aloft with his hands on either side of my arms, his gaze intent on my face. "Our officers either failed to see it or were complicit. The Templars are ready to hear what the Inquisition needs of us." I held his gaze as best I could and gently pried myself from his hands to stand on my own.

Despite his earlier frustrations, Bull was promptly at my back, his chest pressed to my spine to give me the illusion of self-support as I stood.

"We need help with the Breach," I murmured to Barris. My gaze went over his shoulder, my voice higher. "If that thing over our heads doesn't scare you, you're braver souls than me."

"You speak truths we should have never ignored." Barris answered me, stepping closer to his kin. "But The Order is leaderless, gutted by betrayal. We must rebuild it." The Templars shifted behind him, guilt and shame clouded them, their eyes unable to look up and meet mine. I couldn't lose them, not now when my companions had gone through so much to get me here.

I took a step forward and had my feet take my full weight. With locked knees to keep them from trembling, I stepped past Barris to his brothers and sisters, facing them. Moments of silence swam between us as I searched for what I could say, what they would believe.

I decided to stick to the truth.

"I heard of the greatness of the Templars from Commander Cullen," I started, shifting closer. "Not of the battles against mages or the fights to keep demons at bay. I heard of The Order that, on name alone, brought peace to those fearful, that brought security to those weakest."

A few of their heads raised, others looked at me from under their brows, but the lieutenants faced me fully, helmets and battered faces level with my own. Weakly, I smiled at them, my exhaustion pushed just behind the surface.

"The Order is a symbol of respect and structure. We can't let that fade away." I paused as Barris came up to my side, eyes narrowed as he searched my face. My words turned to him, pseudo-leader that he turned out to be.

"The Inquisition offers you an alliance. Supplies, weapons, grounds to shelter you." I turned back to the Templars that stood before me, hands down my sides to keep from shaking. "All we ask is you help us close the Breach." The Templars that stood with us kept their silence, their gazes dancing between each other, my words hanging in the air. Barris took a side step away from me, his eyes focused on my face for a long breath before he nodded.

"The Order will accept, Herald." He commanded, loud enough for his kin to hear. "We'll march with the Inquisition. We much finish up here before we leave. See that your stronghold is prepared to receive us." Ser Barris saluted me with a strong arm and bowed his head to me when I returned the gesture. My heart slammed up into my ribs as I watched them walk away, back into the crumbling, dying fortress. A new silence fell over us and it wasn't until the doors groaned shut that I collapsed to my knees.

"Boss?" Bull stepped over to me, his shadow just along my side.

"I'm going to throw up." I answered, surprised.

I proceeded to do so.


Note: Holy hell. We finally made it to the first ending of the game. Christ, this was a journey for me. Hopefully we'll get to the next leg of the story soon. Please make sure to follow and favorite the story or me to keep on the updates. Not sure if Act II is going to be a separate entity or continued to be posted here. Also, snippets are to be posted soon. If you got any scenarios you'd like to see, let me know.

Once again, thank you to all those who stayed, reviewed, and followed me to the end of this. Whether you were here from the start or just found it, I hope you enjoyed the work and continued to come back for more!

Love you guys, truly.