Disclaimer: Dragon Age characters, settings, and all in-game dialogue property of Bioware. I only own my Hawke, Roxanne, and my Inquisitor, Mhyrra.
Finding the entrance to the old caverns was quick and easy with Kara leading the way. And with the glow she was giving off, they needn't even worry overmuch about light as they descended into the dark, dank depths.
"All of this, from people seeking refuge from the blight…" Blackwall muttered as the past by still-wet, decade-old supplies and the occasional skeleton wreathed in lake-weed.
"Only to end up drowned instead of blighted." Vivienne mused aloud.
"So much old death and hurt down here." Cole said in a saddened tone. "So dark, heavy with the dreams of the damned…"
"Which is why, I imagine, it was such an attractive 'stomping ground' for a demon. Thin Veil – which explains the Rift, really – plenty of wisps to feed on and corpses to raise." Mhyrra posited. Then she raised a hand to her chin in thought, the other holding her staff aloft as the lit tip helped illuminate their descent further.
"Though I do have to wonder, why would a Rage Demon be particularly attracted to a place where all the death happened and evaporated over a decade ago? Wouldn't one of Thedas' currently numberless battlefields make more sense?"
"The minds of those lackwits is a truly warped and senseless thing." Kara declared.
"Yeah?" Sera piped up. "Then how come you ran away from it?"
Kara stopped in her flight, turning to glare at the elf.
Not so long ago, Sera would have squeaked and ducked behind Cassandra. Now, she stood her ground, uneasy in the extreme, but staring right back as she swallowed, thumbing Zinger.
"When I was ripped from the Fade and tossed out of this Rift as you call them, it was alongside this very demon. I was weakened and disoriented. But the demon was less so, or at least less hampered by it. It roared and it thundered, its intent to wreak havoc clear as the morning sun. I ordered it to cease, to tell me what was happening. But it was then that I realized to my horror that nothing in this world headed my commands as they would in the Fade, much less the demon, weakened as I was.
It did not take kindly to my interference, coming after me. It chased me a ways through the flooded caverns until eventually I exited into the lake. It was no longer behind me. So I hid, waiting in that ruin where you found me, beneath the waters, trying to gather myself, to find soldiers or warriors to send after it before it was too late.
But before I could, the water was gone. And there you were." She finished, gazing at them all.
Many were stunned. It seemed this spirit was slightly less selfish than they had thought. Mhyrra however was pensive.
"So, in your fear and wounded pride, you were ready to just send others in your stead to hopefully succeed where you had failed." Mhyrra concluded.
"I was."
"What changed your mind?"
"You did, of course." Kara raised the same hand she'd touched Mhyrra with earlier. "After all, one does not brush against the soul of one so touched by Valour and come away unscathed."
Everyone stared.
"So, what? You just…touch an' talk to Myrri an' all of a sudden you're just…braver?" Sera asked with hefty scepticism.
"Are you truly so different, little bow?" Kara riposted, shifting her gaze back to her.
Sera prepares to rebuke her…until she actually gave it serious thought.
Knowing Mhyrra had made her braver. Or at least, a little less narrow-minded. The fact that she was still here, in the middle of all this shite, was proof of that. The fact that she was actually talking to this glowy-floaty thing without her knees knocking was proof of that.
Others in their group fermented similar thoughts, though none felt the need to admit so aloud.
"Well…I did a lot more than jus' touch and talk to her…" Sera pouts.
"And I can only envy you for such, little bow." The smirk is audible in Kara's tone. "We spirits are merely much simpler beings, more direct."
"Right…" Sera wasn't about to pursue the subject. Save one thing. "An' stop calling me 'little bow', you freaky floaty thing!"
"I do not take commands from you."
"Urgh!"
"Seems you've come away with more than just a dashing of our illustrious Inquisitor's valour." Dorian chuckled. "You also seem to have taken a sip from her sense of humour as well."
"I have no idea what you are referring to."
"See? And we still can't tell if you're being serious! Got one hell of a poker-face, Red." Varric piped.
"You are very strange men, white bird, spinner of tales."
"Hey hey now! Don't you go stealing my nicknaming thunder, Red!"
"Ahem." Cassandra interrupted. "As fascinating as all of this is, perhaps we should get a move on." She faced Kara. "Though I still question the wisdom of following a spirit foolish enough to anger a demon while weak and convalescent."
"It was already raging the moment it stepped out of the Fade!" Kara tossed back. "Ranting and raving about how "Any who stood in its way would feel Justice's burn!" and other such nonsense."
A second passes, before a loud clattering echoes throughout the caverns.
They all turned to see Roxanne had dropped her staff to the ground, fingers as slack as her posture was rigid, mouth agape and eyes as wide as bucklers, staring unseeingly ahead.
Beside her, Varric appeared just as near-catatonic, jaw hanging as his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"You've gotta be shitting me…" Varric forced out hoarsely, disbelievingly.
"What's gotten into you two?" You look like you've just seen…" Mhyrra trailed off when she caught sight of Cassandra. She did not look nearly as rattled as the other two, but her face had paled slightly in shock, and her hand gripped her sword tightly. "Cassandra?"
"Inquisitor." Cassandra looked up at her just as her face tightened. "You've read Varric's 'Tale of the Champion'. Who, or rather what else could say such a thing?"
A pause. A click.
"You cannot be serious." A stare. "Vashedan."
"It can't be." They heard Cole croak, though it was clear his words were not his own. "It can't be! I ran him right through the heart!" He screamed Roxanne's thoughts as the woman in question gripped herself. "How, how could that thing, any part of that thing still be alive?!"
"Uh, real sorry to cut in, bit lost here. Who are we yammerin' on about?" Sera spoke up hesitantly.
"The spirit that once inhabited the Champion's apostate friend, we can only wager." Solas answered grimly.
"We do not know that for certain." Vivienne countered. "The odds are hardly in favour of it being the exact same demon."
"I do not believe in coincidences, Vivienne." Cassandra said. "And neither does anyone here."
"But how?" Dorian queried, disquieted. "Death of the host always results in death of the occupant."
"For as much as you know." Kara interrupted, heads swivelling in her direction.
"What do you mean?"
"Clearly something is occurring here that escapes convention. If you want my best try at an answer, however, I would need comprehend exactly what is entailed in this bizarre little story of yours."
"We've no more time for stories!" Blackwall barked.
"Well then, perhaps the broken hawk would be willing to let me see what happened?" Kara floated over to Roxanne palm held out.
She didn't get within a foot of the Champion before Roxanne sprung to life, fire blazing in Kara's face as she paused in her stride.
"Get. Away from me."
Kara flared up.
"I do not take commands from snivelling cowards who tremble at the mere possibility of facing the consequences of their past actions!" Nevertheless, before Mhyrra could break them up, Kara lowered her hand. "But neither do I believe I could force you."
"Still too weak, demon?" Roxanne snarled tauntingly.
Kara shook her head. "You are broken enough, and you are an ally. I am Command, not Cruelty or Tyranny."
The fires go out from momentary stupor that grips most present, but Roxanne does not yet drop her arms.
"I've witnessed more cruelty and tyranny from people in positions of command than I care to stomach in my life." She retorted.
"True. But that is not my choice." Kara answered calmly.
The two stand off for seconds longer.
"Kara, come here." Mhyrra called out. Said spirit turns to see Mhyrra holding out her palm once more. "I was not there personally, but I've studied the matter with sufficient interest so as to give you the gist of it."
Fiery eyes look upon the Champion once more before she turns and grasps Mhyrra's hand without hesitation. Once again orange wreathes them as gold sparks between their hands.
This time, Mhyrra does not force the spirit back, instead closing her eyes, doing her best to summon all of her knowledge and memories surrounding the Tale of the City of Chains and the agents that had played pivotal roles in it to the forefront of her mind, to present their faces and their action as clear as possible.
The Circle. The Templars. The Qunari. The Mage Underground. The Champion. Her Companions…
Anders…The Spirit of Justice…
Inevitably, her thoughts lead her down the path to a point even farther back in history, to a time she'd read, heard about those same individuals fighting alongside one of the greatest heroes of Thedas: The Hero of Ferelden, Warden Jolena Surana.
Queller of the Fifth Blight. Commander of the Grey. Champion of the Spell-Blade.
Somehow, she just knew that the tug at her thoughts was Kara yearning to know more.
She had never met the woman, so the image she presented in her mind to Kara was hardly detailed, running on what she recalled of what the tales sung of her and what Leliana and Cullen spoke of her. Grass-green eyes, scarlet hair woven into thin braids that framed her face, pointy ears. The rest of her, encased in gleaming armour, dragon scales glinting in the light as she raised her now-legendary greatsword, Vigilance, overhead, the blade ignited with a blazing spell.
The image lingered for a moment longer – was Kara actually trying to hold it there? – before she dispelled it. No point or time right now to begin reminiscing about the stories of the Fifth Blight altogether.
She finished conjuring all she remembered of Anders' and Justice's actions by the Warden's side, then Hawke's. When she felt she could offer no more, she gently urged Kara away, opening her eyes.
All of this had taken no more than a minute. Such wonderful things, the mind and soul. Her companions, still braced to pounce at the slightest sign of treachery, breathed a unified wave of relief as they saw her come to.
She kept her eyes focused on Kara. The spirit appeared to float back as if staggered.
She was flickering again, but this time was different. With each shimmer, she seemed to become less spectral, more solid. By the time she became stable once more, Mhyrra could no longer see through her, her torso a smooth surface of bright orange light. Now what shimmered and shifted where small flows of aether swirling around her head.
And as her gaze matched Mhyrra's, the Qunari would have been blind not to notice that they were no longer floating phantom fires. Two solid spheres filled with burning stars stared back at her, nestled into what could now very easily be distinguished as the vague outlines of a face.
"Your world is…more intriguing than I imagined." Even her voice seemed to ring with greater strength, yet some of its echoing was lost. "As are many of its denizens."
"Are you alright?" Mhyrra asked, more out of curiosity than concern, electing to ignore the stares of her fellows behind her.
"I feel glorious." Kara espoused, spinning in place to demonstrate. "Better than I have ever since I set foot on this plane of existence." Abruptly she settled down, peering at her hands. "Perhaps even better than ever before…" Her fists clench. "Enough to put that rabid mutt of a demon in its place."
"Speaking of which…"
"Ah yes, of course." She nods. "There are of course more than just a single Demon of Vengeance. But if it had always been one, it would not still delude itself with claims of 'Justice' and the like. So yes, it is in all likelihood the same demon, spawned from the turning of a once noble spirit."
All were listening in rapt attention, Solas in particular, even if some of this he already suspected, and all those touched by the tragedy of Kirkwall felt their fists tighten and their hearts plummet.
"But…how?" Varric demanded, pleading to know, to understand so he could conjure up some reason why it just couldn't be, that it wasn't yet another old ghost from the past come roaring back to haunt them.
"Your friend Anders willingly took it into himself when it was still a spirit of Justice. Thus it was not the violent mashing of souls that more often than not results in the obliteration of one or both. Instead, mutual symbiosis, just as I and Mhyrra Adaar have done just now, though evidently on a far greater scope.
As time went on, and as Anders' hate twisted it further and further, they become intertwined tighter and tighter. Where, from what I am able to gather, Vengeance could actually seize control of Anders' body when he felt that Anders was no longer doing enough to spread their twisted vision of 'Justice'.
But still, because it remained Anders' 'choice' to continue housing it in him, did not truly fight to cast it out to the point where it felt threatened enough to fight back, their souls remained separate. Tightly wound together to the point it was unlikely they would ever be able to part on their own even if they both wanted to, but still separate.
So when Anders was slain, Vengeance was simply set free." Here a faint hint of disgust set into her tone and composure. "It could have chosen to stay with the one that had given so much to it, but a demon such as this could no longer comprehend such things as companionship, loyalty or gratitude.
No, all it understood anymore was Rage. Hatred. Vengeance. And it was the magnitude, the power of that same hate that allowed it, broken, weak a host and impotent, to haul itself across the Veil and back into the Fade. Where, one must imagine, it has simmered and stewed all this time, festering until the moment where it could wreak its wrath once more."
"Which explains why it's attracted to this place. It doesn't seek the rage of an active battlefield. It seeks the lingering anger and wrathful desire for vengeance of the wrongfully deceased." Mhyrra finally concluded.
Tense silence stretched over them as Kara nods. Finally, Vivienne of all people broke it.
"As…educational as all this has proven, it changes practically nothing. We still have a demon to slay, regardless of its origin, and we still have a Rift to seal."
As was often the case with the Iron Lady of Orlais, blunt, but with a point. It did nothing to lift the sense of smothering morosity that swathed over most of them.
Then a thought struck Sera, and she did not stop herself from voicing it.
"So, wha' ya saying is, there ain't nothing left of that Anders nutter in it?"
Kara turned to her, the more distinct eyes allowing her to mimic raising her brow.
"What? No of course not, the man died the moment the broken hawk pierced his heart."
"So there's nothing that used to be Roxxy and Dwarfy's friend. Nothing left that's good, worth savin'. Nothin' to feel bad about killing. Just a monster, yeah? A monster that killed a lot of good people. That deserves it."
She saunters over to the still-rattled pair.
"I know I wouldn't want to be in you two's boots right now. But wha'ever good times you still got in your heads with Anders, that thing ain't him. It's the thing that took him from you. The real monster that blew up a Chantry, killed so many people and Maker knows wha' else."
She bends down, gingerly picking up Roxanne's staff and holding it in front of her.
"So come on Roxxy. Yer a hero. Monster-killin's what you do." She tilts her her head as she leans forward. "Fer Anders."
Roxanne slowly blinks, Sera's point sinking in inch by inch despite herself. It wasn't Anders. Not anymore. Where she felt her heart tear in two at the thought of killing the man, he was gone and all that still clung to life all these years later was the beast, rabid and irredeemable.
She hadn't managed to save Anders from it, or the Chantry from its wrath. But now, she finally had a chance to right one of her wrongs, to slay a phantom from her past before it could condemn another innocent soul.
She grabbed hold of the staff in Sera's grip.
"For Anders." She began marching forward once more.
Sera saw Varric smile at her in relieved, sincere gratitude, mouthing 'thanks Buttercup' before trudging off behind her.
Most of the others passed her by with a raised brow and a smile.
"You helped heal her hurting." Cole marvelled. "Even though you were afraid, you tried to make her feel better."
"Quit yer yappin', Creepy. Just because she's a magic-tosser doesn't mean I can't like her. An' really, if I'm gonna stop flinching from talkin' to you spirit nutters, there ain't much point in stayin' shaky in front of mages, is there?
"All of this is surprisingly mature of you, Sera." Cassandra expressed.
"Indeed. Perhaps there is hope in this world after all." Solas added.
"Oh bite me you two."
"I believe that is the Inquisitor's prerogative, no?"
The tips of Sera's ears rosied, but before she could retort, a hand on her shoulder had her turn her head, only for a pair of lips to briefly find her own.
"I'm proud of you, love. Just wanted to make that clear." Mhyrra smiled as they continued on.
Now full-on blushing, Sera ended up falling into step with Kara as they strode to catch up.
"Taking charge of a situation to keep the morale of a comrade from collapsing, motivating her and your fellows to continue forward with their heads held high. We might just make a leader out of you yet, Sera Bright-Bow." Kara mused lightly.
"Yeesh, now I'm startin' to get how Myrri feels sometimes." Sera mumbled. She glanced sidelong at her. "Bright-Bow, huh...I kinda like it."
"Splendid."
Cassandra meanwhile had a query for their resident bald elf beside her.
"I must say I'm the slightest bit curious that you were not the one to exposit all of this to us Solas. Is all of this truly novel to you?
"I have never claimed to be omniscient, Seeker. Although I can claim to have had a great many theories and strong suspicions in regards to much of what our new friend has told us, it is not as though spirits and mages willing to put forward their lives to aid in confirming or denying any of them would have been in bountiful supply."
"A fair point."
The group continued down, deeper and deeper until they hit…
"Oh you have got to be kidding." Roxanne groaned. "Is there anywhere in Thedas that doesn't invariably have a section of Deep Road lying just underneath it?"
"Seriously." Varric groused.
"Well, records do say that the Dwarven Empire once spanned the absolute entirety of Thedas. Clearly they were not exaggerating in the slightest." Dorian supplied.
"Fantastic." Mhyrra sighed as they entered these ancient crumbling halls. "I don't suppose you remember exactly where the demon was, Kara?"
Kara looked at her a moment, then merely pointed at the end of the long corridor they were traversing. A faint, wavering red haze was creeping just around the corner.
She blinked. "Well that was certainly the easy part. Any advice to fight it before we leap into the fray?"
"Strike it first, strike it fast and above all, strike it hard."
She smirked. "I like it, simple, easy to remember, and just my kind of plan."
"Damn right." Sera grinned.
"Count me in." Bull chimed in with a smile.
"I suspected as much." The approval in her tone was all the more obvious thanks to how her voice had gotten clearer. "Shall we?"
"Just like that?!" Roxanne objected.
"Do you have a better plan, broken hawk?"
"I-!" Thrown, she stalled. "No but-"
"Then grip your blades in hand and raise your shields!" She suddenly roared. "Steel your hearts and harden your resolve! Set your sights forward, and charge to meet your foe head-on with all your might!"
A chuckle amidst the momentary stupor.
"For once, I'm not the one that gives the rousing speech." Mhyrra laughed. Then swung her staff forward "Still, one can only admit that there is hardly any sane reason to just start charging down the hall like maddened bulls." A snort from Bull, Mhyrra throws him a mirthful glance. "Gather at the corner, then swoop around to hammer it."
"Swooping is bad." Varric reminded.
"Not when we're the ones doing it."
"Point."
They slowly took up position at the edge of the wall, Mhyrra at the front, Kara behind her, followed by Roxanne, Bull, Cassandra and Blackwall, strong bulwarks to shield the others should things get hairy, as well as the greatest hammers to strike it down the fastest. The others gathered loosely at their rear.
"On the count of three. One…two…THREE!"
Jumping around the corner, she and Roxanne immediately pelt lighting forward. Only for them to slam headlong into the back of a beast beyond any of their imaginings, stopping the warriors cold in their tracks.
Like a Rage Demon, its hide was blazing red as though molten. That was where the similarities ended. It stood hunched over on two legs, looking roughly humanoid even as it towered at over six and a half feet. Shorter than Mhyrra, and yet its hooked claws and feet in no way enticed her to try and out-muscle it.
A horrific growl rumbled out from it as it finally turned to face them. Ironic, given its face was completely blank, save for two pits carved out of into its head within which flared out two streams of scorching light like hateful funeral pyres. Theirs.
"Heathens! All those who stand in the path of Justice shall-" It stopped dead, and as the furious streams of its eyes widened and flared redder, it took Mhyrra only a moment to realize it was staring right at – trying to sear right through her, more like – Roxanne's suddenly terror-stricken form. And in that moment, it shattered any remaining doubts as to its true origins with but a single hateful word.
"…YOU!"
Its thunderous roar shook the very walls around them. The space below its eyes split open in a crooked line, ripping open to form jagged teeth like broken glass.
With one final screech of pure, undiluted hatred, it leapt forward, teeth and claws screaming for blood.
Author's Notes: For those who wonder if I conjured my explanation of how Spirit/Mortal interaction functions whole-cloth, I'm actually basing myself on what we've managed to gather of how souls work in the Dragon Age Universe.
If you wish to explore in greater detail, I enthusiastically direct you to the Dragon Age Inquisition Fridge Brilliance page on .^^
Now, wheter or not it could actually justify Vengeance surviving in canon...well, such is the freedom of fanfiction, no?
And after all, with the added 'oomph' I'm giving Kara, it would sure be a waste to just have the team face of against a run-of-the-mill Rage Demon.
So I thought to myself: Why not a Demon of Vengeance? Why not THE Demon of Vengeance?" And so here we are.^^
Cheers and Warm Tidings to You and All Your Kin, Everyone! Y'All are Awesome and Wonderful!