Chapter 5: The Dragon and The Gauntlet
The Doctor looked up and said back to it, "Greetings, yourself…old girl!"
The Dragon, for what could be seen of its muzzle, looked like it had blushed before saying, "YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, OLD ONE. THOUGH LAST I SAW OF YOU, YOU HAD APPEARED OLDER WITH A SILLY OUTFIT AND CLAIMED YOU WERE THREE TIMES AS OLD AS MY MOTHER."
The Doctor chuckled before asking, "Yeah…well we've both gotten older, haven't we?"
The group turned and looked at The Time Lord in both shock and fear.
"Oh don't look at me like that. This is Savala…or as she's known to the cultists here "Andraste". I met her ages upon ages ago. Although that was back in the other direction of time if I believe." The Doctor said while looking up at the High Dragon with a knowing smirk.
"WELL, DRAGONS SLUMBERING UNDERNEATH THE SILURIANS IN HYBERNATION WILL DO THAT…AS WELL AS HAVING THE EIGHT ELDERS TELEPATHICALLY OBSERVING EVENTS IN THE WORLD OF MAN." Savala replied before The Doctor looked confused.
"According to all of my information, there were only seven 'Old Gods': Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, Andoral, Uthemial, Razikale and Lusacan." The Doctor said before he looked at his old friend with curiosity.
"THERE ARE EIGHT ELDERS, OLD ONE; DUMAT, ZAZIKEL, TOTH, ANDORAL, UTHEMIAL, RAZIKALE, LUSACAN, AND ASHA'BELLANAR. OF THOSE MENTIONED, FIVE HAVE CONTRACTED THE DARKSPAWN TAINT AND NEEDED TO BE PUT DOWN FOR THEIR MADNESS, TWO STILL SLUMBER AND AWAIT THE REUNION, AND ONE…ASHA'BELLANAR, HAS BEEN STOPPED BUT NOT DEFEATED." Savala mentioned to The Time Lord while Morrigan looked at both the dragon and The Doctor with confusion and horror.
"Morrigan, are you alright?" Amy asked as the Wild Witch backed up.
"This is IMPOSSIBLE! I read Flemeth's Grimoire and it did not mention the fact that she was an old dragon. She is a spirit that jumps from daughter to daughter when she nears her end!" Morrigan exclaimed in shock and horror.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT DRAGONLING? IN ACTUALLITY IT IS HOW THE ELDERS MASK THEMSELVES INTO THEIR OWN CHILDREN. EVEN THE DRAGON BEHIND THE OLD ONE HAS A PART OF THE ELDER DRAGONBLOOD INSIDE OF HER. NOT JUST OF THE DARKSPAWN TAINT BUT ACTUALL DRAGONBLOOD IN HER VEINS." Savala told the group as they looked first at Morrigan then at Tamara.
"Wait…The Cousland line does not have dragon blood in it…does it?" Tamara asked as she looked at Savala in confusion.
"OF COURSE YOU HAVE DRAGONBLOOD IN YOU DRAGON. ASHA'BELLANAR JOINED WITH FLEMETH ALL THOSE AGES AGO. TECHNICALLY, BOTH YOU AND THE DRAGONLING SHARE THE SAME LINE!" Savala said cheerfully as she turned back to The Doctor.
"Well, that's as demoralizing a thought as I've ever heard." Morrigan said as she started to walk back.
"Wait Morrigan…I think it's somewhat refreshing that I might not be the last Cousland." Tamara said as she sat down to think.
Morrigan stopped and looked a little stunned at the care that she heard in her…friend's voice.
"Be that as it may, the fact of the matter is that if you start squabbling over who is the elder sibling I will be quite cross." Morrigan said with slight humor as she sat next to her friend.
Tamara chuckled before she said, "Don't worry, I won't say anything…sis."
"Don't start," Morrigan said as she returned the chuckle.
The Doctor looked on in amusement before he turned back to the High Dragon and asked, "So, if that is everything…"
"WAIT OLD ONE! BEFORE I DEPART TO LET YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY, I MUST TELL YOU SOMETHING OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. AN ENEMY OF OLD HAS SET PLANS IN MOTION FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS PLANET. A WAR THAT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN WILL OCCUR IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THOSE OF THE HOLY AND THOSE THAT ARE REVILED BY THE HOLY WILL TEAR THEMSELVES ASUNDER. ASHA'BELLANAR FORSAW THIS WHEN SHE MERGED WITH FLEMETH…IT IS WHY SHE SET IN MOTION EVENTS THAT WOULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE WAR. SHE KNEW THAT WITHOUT EVENTS OCCURING LIKE THEY WERE THEN ALL THE WORLD WOULD BE DESTROYED. HER DEFEAT WAS FORSEEN AND WAS PREPAIRED FOR…HER DRAGONLING OFFERING SALVATION TO THE DRAGON AND HER BROOD WAS FORSEEN…AND THE FACE OF THE OLD ENEMY WAS FORSEEN." Savala told her old friend.
"Then show me, old friend. Show me what was foreseen." The Doctor replied as he walked up to the lowering head of the dragon.
The Time Lord placed his hands on either side of the high dragon's right eye as they both closed their eyes.
Planets swirl by at the speed of light, lights shine around the vastness of the Milky Way; each light feels like an eye observing everyone on the planets, the lights group themselves into four lights in an eye socket form, the golden lights feel old with age and coldness beyond measure.
The eyes swirl and the form changes to an old city inside the ground. A lost city to the dwarves that even they forgot…or were all brainwashed to forget until the right time. An artifact left as a final link to the golden aged eyes. The artifact designed to be the ultimate trap and the ultimate victory for the eyes.
The scene swirls a final time; a woman in heavy armor with a sort of crown on the top of her head, a giant sword in her hand made from the artifact. Another woman, in different armor from the artifact wielding woman, standing up to her, stopping her from making the same mistakes that another who wielded the artifact had made. The action around them stops as they both look to him, arms outstretched as if they both want him to help. Right in between both, an elven woman with dark hair, green eyes and tattoos on her face in between them both with her arms open like he should know her from somewhere.
The Doctor removed his arms from Savala and looked stunned.
"THIS IS WHAT I'VE SEEN FROM ASHA'BELLANAR. I THOUGHT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND IT BETTER THAN I WOULD." Savala said before she backed up and was preparing to leave.
"I do…and trust me; I'll stop this…if I can." The Doctor said as he walked back to the group.
"ASHA'BELLANAR SAID THAT AN OLD ONE WOULD SAY THAT SOMEDAY. SHE ALSO SAID THAT IF AN OLD ONE SAID THAT TO DIRECT THEM TO SUNDERMOUNT IN A YEAR'S TIME AFTER THE BLIGHT IS OVER. I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD BE YOU, MY FRIEND. THIS WILL BE THE LAST THAT WE SEE OF EACH OTHER." Savala said as she started to fly off.
"WHY?" The Time Lord shouted/asked as the High Dragon flew off.
The others in the group didn't hear what was said in the end.
As The Doctor walked up to the group, Amy asked, "What'd she say?"
"She said that the age of the actual dragons would end soon." The Doctor said before they all got up.
"If I remember right, there are still seventy years before the Dragon Age closes." Wynne chose to reply.
"Not the calendar year but the time when actual dragons will finally disappear from the face of the planet." The Doctor said as they all walked to the chamber containing Andraste's Ashes.
Amy, half-joking, asked, "Anything else?"
"Yeah, she also said that the chamber in there held something of great importance to me." The Doctor said as the neared the door to The Gauntlet.
The sextet entered The Gauntlet lobby and noticed a single figure standing as a guard. The figure was wearing very shiny armor and had a greatsword on his back. The guard looked at the group before he saw both Tamara and The Doctor.
"Welcome, I am the Guardian of the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I also wish you well Lord Doctor." The Guardian said as the group looked on at The Doctor in shock.
"Why do you want to wish me well?" The Doctor asked.
The Guardian looked at The Time Lord before saying, "Andraste had said a friend of hers from ages past would show with five others; four from this realm and one from 'the old times' as she had described it."
The Doctor looked at The Guardian and started scanning him with his sonic screwdriver.
"Doctor?" Amy asked as he stared on in slight shock.
"This is impossible…I mean, your nothing more than a projection of someone from long ago but the source of this projection is decades old…almost like someone wanted this to run." The Doctor said as he finished his scans.
"I merely guard The Bride of the Maker, Lord Doctor." The Guardian said before he turned to the rest of the group.
"Only two other people called me 'Lord Doctor'; one's trapped in a Time Lock, the other's unconscious on the ground. Now who are you?" The Doctor demanded.
"All in good time, Lord Doctor, I must administer The Gauntlet to these four pilgrims before us." The Guardian said before turning to The Warden and her friends.
"Tamara Cousland…if I may ask a question?" The Guardian asked to start the trial.
The Warden looked nervous before she said, "You may,"
"You faced such hardship and still see the faces of your parents as well as the face of Arl Howe, the betrayer of your family. Do you regret the fact that your parents had died and you could do nothing to save them?" The Guardian asked.
Tamara thought a moment before replying, "If you're asking if I doubt myself for not seeing Howe's treachery before it took the life of my mother and father then no, I don't. To live in that kind of paranoia will only leave a person with an empty heart and a maddened mind. If you're asking if I feel grief at their loss…every day…but I also keep in mind that everything I do brings me one step closer to either bringing justice to their memories or to a peace that I can't be in."
The Guardian smiled as he said, "Very well."
"You don't need to look inside my mind, spirit. I don't tolerate others in something that is mine." Morrigan told the spirit in an 'end of discussion' tone of voice.
"Very well," The Guardian replied before moving onto Wynne.
"Wynne, you spout platitudes and comments you heard before from your mentors. Do you feel like you are nothing more than puppet that The Chantry speaks through?" The Guardian asked.
Wynne also thought about herself before replying, "I do wonder that on occasion. But I also know that I also know that I feel like I am right."
"Very well," The Guardian replied before moving onto Leliana.
"Leliana, you speak of this vision of yours as though The Maker speaks through you. Do you think that makes you better than The Prophet?" The Guardian asked.
"You think this is all for…attention?" Leliana asked with disbelief in her voice.
The Guardian waited for her answer.
"Leliana, you don't have to worry, it's not what you think it's going to be on your 'Maker' but what you believe." The Doctor said.
Leliana looked at The Doctor then at the floor as she thought about it before saying, "No, I don't believe that I would be an equal or better than Andraste. But I feel that The Maker guided me to these people."
"Very well," The Guardian said before moving on to Amy.
"NO! She won't be a part of this 'Self-examination'. If you want to question someone, question me!" The Doctor shouted as he moved in front of Amy.
The Guardian looked at both Amy and The Doctor before asking, "Do you agree with your companion, Amy?"
Amy looked at both The Doctor then The Guardian before saying, "Yes, I do."
"Very well," The Guardian replied before moving onto The Doctor.
"Lord Doctor, you do not have to take this first part of The Gauntlet if you choose." The Guardian said.
"No, you've practically asked everyone else their own questions it's my turn." The Doctor said, knowing that this 'Guardian' would dredge up old wounds.
"Very well, Lord Doctor; you've traveled with many companions…you've ran from one end of the universe to the next…you've grown so very old and even watched yourself become the singular member of a now extinct race of titans. The only thing I ask of you is this: Do you feel that you have failed in not only protecting those that you care or cared about…but also failure in protecting your race from itself?" The Guardian asked.
The Doctor chuckled before saying, "I once thought that as the only Time Lord left, I had the power to do anything I could think of that would be right. The universe showed me that a balance must be paid for every transgression made in time. Adelaide Brooke and her family paid the price for my mistake by her daughter witnessing her suicide. Time changed in a small way but it showed me that no one can do something like that with that kind of power or knowledge without a price to pay in exchange if it is used in less than honorable purposes. In the end…if I knew then what I did now…I would still do as I did, knowing that it has to be this way or else the universe would extract a more terrible price than I could afford to lose."
The Guardian smiled before saying, "Very well, Lord Doctor. All of you may pass."
Amy looked at the Guardian before asking, "What? Is that it?"
The Doctor looked at Amy and said, "Now, now Amy. Let's not tempt the nice hologram."
The group wandered past The Guardian and into another chamber, this time with eight 'ghosts' inside eight smaller areas in the chamber. The sextet had walked to the center of the chamber before The Doctor stood stock still.
Wynne looked toward the Time Lord before asking, "Doctor, what's wrong?"
The Doctor looked toward the eight holograms and said, "Not this time. You are not going to do it this time."
Amy looked at The Doctor and asked, "Do what?"
The Doctor turned to Amy and asked, "Remember The Dream Lord?"
Amy paled as she shook her head.
"Trust me…that was not the worst part of my own mind. And I hope…I really, really hope, that what appears in that next room after we meet Teyrn Cousland." The Doctor said as he walked toward the door and waited for Tamara had finished going through the eight holograms and their questions.
When they were all answered (with help from The Doctor, of course) the door opened and standing inside the doorway was Teyrn Cousland, as The Time Lord had predicted.
Tamara was in shock as she walked up to the image of her father.
"Hello there, pup!" The image greeted her as she numbly waved her hand, still in shock.
The group took a couple of steps closer before Tamara had shaken herself from her shock.
"I'd say hello back…but I know that you're not real. You're just a figment of my imagination…a dream." Tamara told the mirage glumly.
The Image shook its head before saying, "I know that you know. But, from your memories, I was created to see if you still regret some event or moment in your life…namely, the death of your parents."
Tamara, in a moment of uncertainty, looked at The Doctor.
"I exposed my old wounds, now it's your turn." The Doctor said as he started scanning the next area with his sonic screwdriver.
Tamara took a deep breath before saying, "Yes, I do have a moment of regret. But, for the most part…I've gotten past it and have moved on. I'll always feel like I've disappointed my family by running instead of fighting. But, like I told The Guardian, I'll either have justice or peace one day."
The Image smiled before handing The Warden a necklace and saying, "Good, remember always not only what I've taught you…but of what the rest of the people of your life have taught you."
With its task done, The Image faded. When it had finished it's dissolve into nothingness, The Doctor walked up to Tamara and set his hand on her shoulder. No words were really said, as the both looked at each other for a moment. Both understood that they lost family members…both lived with the pain of moving on while their loved ones had met their final end.
Amy interrupted by asking, "Is that it?"
"No, we now face our darker fears…ourselves." The Doctor said as he started walking into the next room.
Entering the room, they saw an exact copy of themselves on the other side of the room, although the group staring back at them was like a dark reflection of themselves. The Alternate Wynne looked like she had gone mad ages ago. The Alternate Leliana had a cruel smirk on her face, like Marjolaine had when she had cornered someone when they were playing 'The Game'. The Alternate Morrigan looked like she had already been possessed by Flemeth. The Alternate Tamara looked like the Darkspawn Taint had taken a serious toll on her body while The Alternate Amy looked like something of a cross between the normal Amy and one of The Weeping Angels.
What shocked everyone was The Alternate Doctor…was female.
"WHAT!" The Doctor shouted as he looked at his Alternate Self.
Alternate Doctor smirked as she walked closer towards The Doctor.
"Surprised? Really, Doctor…did you think that thought never crossed our mind at least once." Alternate Doctor said with a kind of seductive lilt in her voice.
The regular sextet, minus The Time Lord, openly stared at his Alternate Self. This Alternate Doctor had dark brown hair that reached down to her back. Her eyes were like two chunks of blue ice and had a slightly frozen quality. She wore what looked like a black leather jacket, a deep red shirt, black cargo pants and black combat boots.
"What do we call you…The Dream Lord…The Valeyard…" The Doctor was asking his double before she laughed.
With the rest confused, The Alternate Doctor had reduced herself to a chuckle before saying, "Just call me The Darkness. Because that is what I am to you; I am everything you are not. The Dream Lord and The Valeyard were both parts of your darker nature but I am not only a mixture of the two, I am the both of them combined into a whole…the cunning nature of The Valeyard with the manipulative nature of The Dream Lord. That is what your true darkness is, Doctor. This is what you fear."
"Yes, but unlike both The Valeyard and The Dream Lord, you are just a projection…just an image. All I have to do is flick a button, and "POP" you're gone!" The Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
The Darkness again smirked as she walked back to her dark sextet and said, "Yes, but you still wouldn't be able to answer one question…'why?'"
The Time Lord pushed a button on his sonic screwdriver causing The Alternates to disappear.
Amy, looking shocked at her Alternate Self, walked up to The Doctor and asked, "Doctor…what was that?"
The Doctor turned around and, with a smile, said, "Simple, Amy. That was an imager. It takes an image of whoever is in front of it or of the brainwave patterns of whoever crosses a certain point. It obviously scanned our brainwaves when we passed the doorway where Teyrn Cousland was and had created what we thought our dark reflections and fears would be."
The Doctor walked up to Wynne and said, "Fear of misusing your magic for your own purposes…simple."
He then went towards Leliana and said, "Worried that the life you led was not only addictive but that it would turn you into the person you loved, then hated the most."
He then walked over toward Morrigan and said, "Fear at becoming possessed by your mother…again, easy."
He then walked up to The Warden and said, "Turning into a mindless monster! Out of all that you saw with The Observer, that's your fear!"
"Well, I wasn't complaining at the time…Miss Doctor!" Tamara said back with a slight chuckle.
"Don't…" The Doctor said as he walked up to Amy.
"Fear of The Weeping Angels…" Amy said as The Doctor came up to her.
The Doctor nodded as he walked up to the next door and was going to go in.
"WAIT!" Morrigan shouted as The Doctor was leaving.
The Time Lord stopped and turned to answer any questions that the group had.
"Why did you fear being a woman?" Morrigan asked with a bit of amusement.
The Doctor took a quick breath before saying, "It's not being a woman that I'm afraid of. It's what The Darkness said. She is everything that I am against or am not. Physically, that's being a Time Lady. Deep down, it's being against everything I value or stand for: freedom, life…that sort of thing. She only cares about destruction and not caring about who she hurts along the way."
The group was momentarily stunned before walking into the next room. Said next room looked like something out of an Indiana Jones film: Big black chasm with no way across.
"Well, someone liked Indiana Jones." Amy said as she walked around the room.
That's when it clicked for The Doctor on who masqueraded as Andraste.
'Impossible…she…no, just…no; she was always a stickler for law and order…even if she also knew when to bend the rules.' The Doctor thought as Tamara and the others were trying to solve the puzzle.
"Doctor, are you coming along now?" Leliana asked as she was crossing the bridge.
The Group walked into the final room with The Urn when they saw a wall of fire spring up from the floor.
Tamara, thoroughly annoyed with all the tests and puzzles she and her party had been though, shouted, "COME ON! HAVEN'T WE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH OF THESE TESTS?"
The Doctor walked up to the pedestal and waved his sonic screwdriver over it.
"Guardian, I think we can skip the last part of this test…don't you agree?" The Doctor asked before turning around to face said projection.
"Agreed, Lord Doctor; the imager had created a more than sufficient test when you met your darker selves." The Guardian said as he walked toward the flames.
"Normally, you would have to remove your worldly goods to pass the flames and meet the remains of The Bride of The Maker. But, as you have the blessing of one of The Chosen, you all may pass and see The Urn." The Guardian said before walking back to The Doctor.
"Lord Doctor…there is a key underneath the urn. This will allow you to enter The Vessel of The Maker and hear Andraste's final message to you." The Guardian said before walking up to The Urn of Sacred Ashes.
The hologram turned and said to the sextet, "My task is finally complete for now. I will wait for the next group of pilgrims to enter The Gauntlet."
The image of The Guardian faded into a ghostly image before disappearing altogether. The Group walked up to the urn before The Doctor picked it up and pulled a key off of the bottom of the urn. The Doctor handed the urn to Tamara before the sound of clapping entered their ears. They turned around and saw The Observer clapping and smiling before he pulled out a laser pistol.
"Thank you everyone for allowing me to get here. Now, give me the urn…or I'll destroy it, and utterly ruin the history of this little planet." The Observer said as he aimed his pistol at the urn.
Before anyone could do anything, three ash wraiths appeared behind The Observer…ready to kill him.
"Observer, look behind you!" The Doctor shouted toward the man.
"Nice try, Doctor!" The Observer said before starting to pull the trigger on his pistol.
The Ash Wraiths each grabbed The Fallen Time Lord. The last thing the group saw was a cloud of ash surrounding The Observer before a mummy-like corpse fell down to the ground. Stunned, the group watched the ash wraiths come together to form The Guardian, who simply nodded to the group before disappearing again.
"Damn…" The Doctor whispered before taking Amy's hand and running off toward the outside of The Gauntlet.
Tamara and the others turned back to The Urn in her hands and proceeded to take a pinch of the ashes inside to place in a pouch to take back to Arl Eamon. The group, minus Amy, expressed their joy (or disgust in Morrigan's case) at finding the legendary Urn of Sacred Ashes. As the group walked out of the temple, the noticed something that had not been there before: a rosebush standing out in the middle of the ruins beside the path leading to the temple.
As the sextet walked up to the rosebush, The Doctor and Amy emerged from right in the middle of it, The Doctor looking both distraught and angered at the same time.
"Doctor, what is it...what did you find." Leliana asked as she walked up towards the Time Lord.
The Doctor turned toward the group (minus Amy) and said, "Nothing to concern yourselves over. Amy went into the TARDIS. Now, I've had a great time, but...gotta go!"
Tamara walked up to The Doctor and asked, "Why so soon?"
"Simple, you've got a destiny to fulfill. I've got places to go, people to see, things to fix. Now, get going you. I'd imagine the good Brother would have a heart attack when he sees that." The Doctor said as he pressed a button on his sonic screwdriver and made the cloaking shield disappear.
The group were in awe when he opened it and said, "Maybe someday...but not yet."
Chapter 5 is done, AT LAST! Took me forever to plan this right. But there will be an epilogue as well as a teaser for next time. Disclaimer is all the way at the beginning.
Till Next Time.