The mines that held the Mother were dark and cold, as if nothing had been alive in their depths for years. Zeriah shivered and glanced back at her followers. Nate, Mhairi, and Traven all held their weapons at the ready. They had already come across numerous darkspawn, but most of them were attacking each other and did not notice the humans slipping right by them. As they snuck into another clearing, she heard a rustling behind them. She turned, sword at the ready, to see a familiar yet still terrifying creature. The Architect stood, his trusty corrupted dwarf beside him as always. Zeriah's eyes narrowed. She had not forgotten her capture at this creature's hands, nor had she forgotten the screams she had heard from the others as the beast tortured them.
"And so we meet again." it said cordially. She continued to glower as the dwarf drew her sword. The Architect raised a skeletal hand. "No, Utha. That is not how this must begin." he chided. "I owe you an apology, Commander. When last we met I intended to explain myself. Fate, however, intervened." the creature approached her hesitantly, and she did not lower her weapon.
"As I recall, you tied me up and cut into my flesh against my will, not to mention doing the same or worse to my companions!" she spat. The creature shook his head.
"I restrained you only to prevent the misunderstanding that occurred with the rest of your order." he explained. He had a strange manner of speaking, with excessive pauses and odd breathing.
"A misunderstanding? Did you not attack the Grey Wardens?" Mhairi piped up.
"I sent 'the Withered' to ask for the Grey Warden's help. I should have anticipated that they would see our approach as an attack." he admitted. "I am rarely able to judge how your kind will react. It was most unfortunate." Zeriah scoffed at him.
"Unfortunate? You took those men and you drained the blood from their bodies and you call that unfortunate? What is the matter with you?" she cried. His eyeless brow furrowed.
"The Wardens brought to me were already dead. I took their blood, just as I took yours, because I had little choice. Things have not gone as I planned." he explained.
"That's the understatement of the age." Traven murmured.
"I only ask that you hear me out. Should you still wish to slay me afterward, you may try." he waited for Zeriah's reluctant nod before continuing. "My kind has ever been driven to seek out the Old Gods. It is our nature. When we find one, a new Blight is begun. Each time, we attack your surface lands and you fight back until we are defeated. To break the cycle, my brethren must be freed of that compulsion. For that, I need Grey Warden blood." Zeriah fought the urge to bite his head off. That suggestion enraged her.
"How would you go about releasing them?" she asked.
"In order for you to become what you are, you drink the blood of my kind to transform. Similarly, we must transform. I have created a version of your Joining that uses the blood of Grey Wardens. You take the taint into yourselves. What we take is the resistance. That is how my brethren are freed. In your blood lies the key to their immunity against the call of the Old Gods." Traven snorted with laughter.
"No, no, I like my blood where it is, thanks. In my veins." he quipped.
"If...if this will stop the Blight, isn't a little blood worth it?" Nathaniel said quietly. Zeriah found herself agreeing with the quiet archer.
"How do you explain the Mother, then? I'm assuming she's one of yours?" she asked anyway. The Architect nodded.
"Most do well, but some react poorly. They are flawed and they rage against me. She gathers them to stop me as she seeks to stop you. I cannot defeat her alone, and I cannot free the darkspawn unless she is defeated. Our goals are the same." he said. Zeriah nodded slowly. "Help me kill the Mother, and after it is done, I will leave to continue my work." she straightened.
"Very well. I will aid you in this." she said. Traven gaped at her.
"What if he's wrong? What if this doesn't stop the Blight, but makes something worse?" he asked.
"But what if he's not, and all of this ends forever? No more Blight, Traven! That is what we have always worked for!" she retorted. Her old friend reluctantly nodded.
"I trust you, Zeri." he said simply.
"Thank you, Commander. I realize what a leap of faith this is for you. I hope I prove worthy of your trust. I will take you to the Mother now, but I cannot approach her. The Children protect her from my power. I will aid you however I can once you reach her." he said, leading the way. It did not take long to find her. A grotesque brood-mother, she waited in a large chamber, surrounded by small, pulsating pods. She screeched at their approach, flaps of skin on her face peeling away and revealing the bloody mass beneath.
"Now the pieces fall into place, the Grey Warden comes, the instrument of the Father!" she scoffed. Zeriah shivered. Black blood dribbled down the Mother's chin, and her bloodshot eyes stared wildly at everything before her. "Oh and the Father, he is but a shadow. My children protect me! How they love me!" she crooned madly.
"I've no time for chatter, I'm afraid. I have other things to attend to." Zeriah drawled as a shadow of the Architect appeared beside her.
"Do you even know who you have allied yourself with, Warden? Have you heard how it was that the Father began the Blight?" the Mother screeched. Zeriah's eyes widened. Began it?
"What is she talking about?" she growled.
"I found the old god, and I attempted my Joining on him. My intent was that this would free all darkspawn, to unravel the curse from the source, but I was unlucky." he explained. She laughed bitterly.
"Unlucky?" she yelled.
"Is it not the way of the Grey Wardens to do what must be done?" he asked. She sighed. He was right and wrong all at once, but there wasn't much choice.
"You're right. But perhaps you should think things through a bit more next time you try to wake up an Old God! Mother, it's time to die." she said, turning on the corpulent beast.
"Perhaps we will hear the song again when we die! Let it come, let it come!" the creature squealed before tentacles burst from the ground, nearly knocking Zeriah off her feet.
"Freeze her!" Zeriah shouted, hoping that Traven would hear her over the cacophony of Children pouring into the room. She hacked at a tentacle that erupted before her before dashing out of the way of another. She felt a sudden chill that raised the hair on the back of her neck and she smiled. The tentacles slowed significantly, giving her a chance to rush forward and attack the beast at the source. The Mother screamed in rage as she slid her sword beneath one of her globs of skin, thrashing as the blade lit up with fire, ice and lightning. Zeriah dragged it through before pulling it out and stabbing her again, trying to slice her into pieces.
She did not notice a tentacle creeping up behind her until it struck her in the stomach, flinging her into the wall. She choked as she lost all of her air before coughing and gasping. She narrowed her eyes at the creature. The Mother would die now. She pulled the small knife she wore on her belt from its sheath before taking a deep breath and hurling it across the room. Just as the Mother's face flaps peeled away for another screech, the knife struck, embedding itself in her skull. The creature gurgled and died, blood oozing from her head. Zeriah turned and smashed her shield into one of the few remaining Children in the cavern. It fell to the ground with a squelching sound. She stared down at it until she felt Traven's hand hesitantly touch her shoulder.
"Let's go home." she said wearily. She missed her husband. She missed her dog. She was tired of darkspawn.
"Zeriah." Traven murmured. She looked up at him.
"I want to see my husband, Traven. Our mission here is done." she said tiredly. Her friend nodded.
"Back to the Keep. Then I'll make sure you get to Denerim." he promised. She smiled softly at him.
"Thank you." she replied. She was eager for all of this to finally be over.