Disclaimer: Dragon Age characters, settings, and all in-game dialogue property of Bioware. I only own my Hawke, Roxanne, and my Inquisitor, Mhyrra.^^
As the beast lunged at them with the sole objective to rip out her throat reflecting in its eyes, time seemed to slow to a crawl as Roxanne stood rooted in place.
Only to slam face-first into a golden shield of energy, courtesy of one very riled up spirit of Command.
"BACK!" Kara bellowed as she shoved against it, bracing her entire being against the barrier. "Back you savage mongrel! I will not allow any harm to come to those under my command!"
But the demon ignored her, both of them straining to cast aside the other in a contest of ethereal strength.
"OUT OF MY WAY, WENCH! MY JUSTICE WILL NOT BE DENIED BY SOME SPINELESS SOW!"
It rose its hands above its head, slamming them down with mad abandon against the barrier.
It fractured but held fast as Kara narrowed her eyes.
"Your justice? How pathetic." She spat as the cracks mended in a flash. "Your justice is a sad, twisted joke, demon!"
Another screech as it finally backed up, only to brace itself to charge once more.
"I AM THE JUSTICE OF THOSE CRUSHED UNDER TYRANNY'S HEEL! I AM THE BLADE OF THE WEAK'S RAGE! I AM THE ROAR OF THE WRONGFULLY DEACESED! I-"
"In the name of all that is good and sane in both worlds. I command you to BE SILENT!" Kara yelled, throwing out her hand before clenching her fist.
The demon's jaw snapped shut, and its thoughts went quiet. Shock gripped all present in the same way the demon suddenly grabbed at its throat and mouth in an effort to pull them open.
Kara blinked – actually blinked, not flickered – along with everyone else.
"I will confess with absolute honestly. I did not expect that to actually work."
"Nice." Sera peeped.
Vengeance chose this moment to forsake trying to unlock its speech, opting instead to fix the group with a murderous smoulder as it gathered smoking hellfire in both its claws.
"Don't suppose you could, Idunno, order it to jus' keel over or somethin'."
"That would be incredibly unlikely, yes."
"Piss-balls."
"Quite. Now all of you kindly be dears," She opened portholes in the barrier. "And begin serving it fire and steel!"
They did not need to be told twice. Lighting and ice lanced forward from the mages' staves, bolts flew from Bianca and a charged arrow was loosed from Zinger. The melee combatants prepared themselves to follow up with a charge.
Vengeance tossed its fire forward as it lunged once more. The ice melted mid-flight. The lighting passed through the ensuing mist only to crackle seemingly without effect against its incandescent hide. The bolts dug into it with hardly more reaction than it would show to a mosquito bite.
But when Sera's arrow reached it, it sunk into the demon's gut up to the midpoint of the shaft, the lightning discharging across and within its entire being and arcing between Varric's bolts, halting it in its tracks. The arrow and bolts crumbled, but the damage was done, the demon hunching with a muffled roar slipping past its shut gullet.
Mhyrra and Bull wasted no time, rushing forward, Mhyrra slashing her spirit blade to bifurcate the torso from shoulder to hip, Bull swinging his axe overhead to cleave it in twain.
Before they could, Vengeance righted itself, and its arms shot up to catch both their weapons in its hands, sparks showering from where palm met blade.
The line of its maw ripped apart again, loosing its fury with renewed vitriol.
Mhyrra smirked in its face.
"My, what a gentleman. Opening up for a lady. Don't you think so Cassandra?"
Before the demon would have blinked if it could, Cassandra was there, ducking between her comrades with her shield held forward. Then she jumped, slamming into the demon's head and throwing her entire weight behind it.
Off balance and without proper grip as Mhyrra cancelled her blade, Vengeance toppled onto its back, Cassandra crashing on top of it with a roll. Snarling, it turned onto its stomach, reaching to grab her, only for its hand to be pinned to the ground by a Bloodstone dagger held by a strikingly solemn Cole.
"You cause and are nothing but hurt. There is nothing left to heal. Time for you to go to sleep. I'll help."
It other arm never made it within an inch Cole, skewered through the elbow by Blackwall, then severed as he spins and twist his sword, hacking it off and sending it flying.
"Bull, Hawke, now!"
Bull winds around a second time, preparing to take off its head. Roxanne, covered in a Haste spell cast by Dorian, sprinted up, ready to ram her staff's, coated in a frost spell, through the beast's heart.
"ENOUGH!"
Suddenly Bull's spin comes to a stop, and his lone eye widens as he looks, only to see the culprit is Vengeance's severed limb, its strength no illusion as it floats, holding his axe in place.
Only to be disintegrated as Sera spears it with another charged shot.
But it was too late. Vengeance tore its arm through Cole's dagger, the limb split in two halves before melding back together, just in time for it to spring to its feet, dodging Mhyrra stab, and seize Roxanne by the throat in mid-stride.
Barrelling towards the wall, using Roxanne's body to bat away Bull, Mhyrra and any others who stood in its path, her staff getting torn away in the struggle, it slammed her into the ancient dwarven stone with enough force to crack it. Only the enchantments of her hood kept her skull from splitting apart. As it was, she was merely concussed, Vengeance's nightmarish visage blazing and swimming as it glowered barely inches from hers, fangs glinting in anticipation of tearing her limb from limb.
"TRAITOR! BETRAYER! KINSLAYER! NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOUR RECKONING!"
"Maybe…" Roxanne choked out as she pressed her palms to the arm that held her. "But you won't be the one to judge me, monster!"
Cold spikes tore through the limb, slackening the grip enough for Roxanne to bring up both her legs and driving them right into its chest, dropping her down the wall and sending it stumbling away from her.
Right into the path of a massive block of ice that crashed into it, taking the beast with it as it sped head-smack into another wall, burying the demon between ice and rock.
"I think it's high time for you to cool off, my dear." Vivienne intoned.
"Quite right." Dorian agreed, staff crossed with Vivienne's to create the sheer amount of solid cold they just launched. "All this shouting and stomping is profoundly unsightly."
They then approached and knelt at the Champion's side, healing magic aglow in their hand as she laid it gingerly atop Roxanne's head, and he on her singed neck.
"Do try to remain still, darling. Empty as your head might be, I would still see you keep it."
"And here I was about to actually thank you." Roxanne snarked in a low voice.
Vivienne merely smiles thinly. "It's the thought that counts, my dear."
Crack.
The ice fractures, fire licking around the edge where it and the rock meet, shards flying as it explodes outwards. Vengeance stands there, hunched over, arm still missing and no longer raging and flaring as brightly, but still very much alive.
Kara growled, turning to her side. "Fade-walker."
Still too rung out to dodge, Vengeance could only stand there and take it as an enormous spectral fist ploughed it back into the wall, crumpling to the ground as it vanished. Still it kept going, propping itself up with one arm in an attempt to stand, only for a second fist to drill into its back, making it kiss the ground, hard.
And still it refused to die, lifting its head and dragging itself forward by its fingers and legs.
"You do not know when to surrender it seems. Your resolve would be commendable if it were not so misguided. How fitting though. Here you will die, on all fours like the beast you truly are."
Mockery proved to be the best medicine, as some of the demon's furious glow seemed to return.
"I will not be beaten so easily, fools! For my strength, is the strength of all those who seek justice for the crimes of the wicked, vengeance for the lives stolen from them!"
It swung up onto its feet, raising its lone arm to the ceiling.
"Heed my call, souls of the dead and damned! Answer the call to wreak judgement on those who would deny you justice!"
Sinister crimson light lit in its palm, before floating up and zipping around the area faster than their eyes could follow. A tense pause.
Angry red wisps coalesced before their eyes. Spectres faded into existence. And the handful of surrounding corpses and skeletons still intact enough to stand rose with ghastly shambling.
"Oooh piss…" Sera drew out, fingers twitching at her quiver.
Kara just scoffed "Please." And with that, snapped her fingers, with barely any sound.
And just like that, the wisps and spectres turned from burning ruby to brilliant amber, the corpses and skeletons stopping in their tracks.
"WHAT!"
"Oh spare us the look of outrage on that ugly face of yours, mongrel. You might have been too wilful for me to seize command of to any significant degree, but this little mob of yours? This motley collection of mindless motes and spineless wraiths?"
She narrowed her eyes as she floated closer to the downed demon. "I am Command. And unlike you, these dogs know to whom and when to heel."
Vengeance snarled, practically slobbering with hate. "THIS IS NOT THE END!" He took off, down the adjacent hall, running on all three of his remaining limbs like a hobbled mutt.
Kara eyes lit up like stars even as they narrowed in disgust. "Get back here coward!"
She swung her arm out, and golden chains erupted from her palm, shooting towards the fleeing demon at ludicrous speed, snaking around his legs in an iron hold and sending it back to the ground.
As the chains slowly dragged it back, it frantically continued to try and pull itself forward, clawing at the ground until its fingers bled crimson mana.
"RELEASE ME, WITCH!"
It suddenly found itself flipped on its back, face to face with pools of shining stars as they glowered down at it.
"My name is Kara. Spirit of Command. I do not take orders from gutless beasts like you. I give orders. So now, be a good little mongrel…"
The chains slid farther up, wrapping thrice around the demon's neck, hauling it to his knees as it began to writhe and groan.
Not from any lack of air, but from the fact that the chains appeared to be searing into its body, smoke and hissing rolling of if it in plumes and fits.
Kara placed her hand against its forehead.
"And play dead."
The chains gleam and burn hotter, the demon clenching its maw shut as the molten-like veins in its hade seem to crack wider and glow with citrine light.
"You cannot stop me! There will always be those who thirst for justice! And those who deserve the wrath of the heavens crashing down on their heads!" It ground out defiantly. "The unjustly dead in these cursed caves, the mayor of that village, even you and those pathetic mortals who grovel at your feet! You, all of you, are the strength that drives me!"
A glowing green hand places itself over Kara's.
"You're right." Mhyrra proclaimed. "There will always be a desire for justice in the world. How can there not be, when we ourselves indeed seek to propagate and sate it? But what the world does not need, what we will eradicate, is the senseless bloody Cycle of Revenge that you demon scum feed on. You are not the only Demon of Vengeance. But then, everyone has to start somewhere. One of you monsters at a time. We will starve you out. You will die screaming in hunger. This I promise."
Emerald light mixed into cracks. The demon keens louder, just as the blade end of a staff sinks into its chest.
"Talk about big reasons all you want." Roxanne speaks, her already mostly-healed wounds speaking volumes of Vivienne and Dorian's skill. "I'm all for it. But I just really want to see this thing dead once and for good."
Azure adds itself to the kaleidoscope of colours coursing through the bound abomination. It finally breaks, roaring in agony as it strains against the chains.
Kara burns as bright as the sun, the Anchor and the gem of Parlathan's staff flaring alongside her.
"Demon of Vengeance. For the crimes you have committed… For the atrocities you brought about… For your twisted mockery of justice…I command you to oblivion!"
The cracks join each other where the staff pierces its heart, the demon throwing its head back as it screams its death knell to the heavens.
Slowly, it broke apart, turning to ash, falling away and vanishing into nothingness. The lights began to die down, and with a final death throe, the Demon of Vengeance that had taken the lives of the Warden Apostate of Kirkwall, Grand-Cleric Elthina, the Kirkwall Chantry and no doubt countless others, disintegrated into the void, ceasing to be.
The chains fall to the floor, then vanish a second later. Everyone slowly gathers against a wall, tending to whatever wounds they had and taking a short rest. A deaf silence rings in the ears of all.
"Thank you."
All eyes turn to Kara.
"You aided me when you did not need to, and you helped me on a greater level than I could have ever anticipated. So I thank you, each and every one of you, for everything you have done, and everything you may still do."
"Well, the demon was sitting right in out path. Although I think I am speaking for all when I say that your assistance was most appreciated." Dorian offered.
"You trusted me. Some of you clearly more than others." She looked at Mhyrra as she said this. "But in the end, you fought by my side."
"Well, we were just following orders." Blackwall joked.
"No. You chose to help an ally. I understand that now. If I'd directed all of you like a pack of marionettes, you would have suffered. Command, true command, is not directing pawns towards goal after goal. It is leading those who you inspire to follow you forward."
She extends her hand. "So, thank you for choosing to follow me into this."
Mhyrra grasps her hand for the third time, smile upon her lips.
"I think I speak for all of us when I say: You're welcome, Kara."
"Hey, gals who help out putting down demon assholes are alright in my books." Varric chuckles.
"Here here." Blackwall nods.
"Helping is what we do. If you help us, then that makes you a friend." Cole expresses.
"I can certainly think of stranger things than considering a spirit and friend. Thank you, Lady Kara." Dorian affirms with enthusiasm.
"It is warming to see that relations such as these are still possible between spirits and mortals." Solas smiles.
"I suppose I would be remiss to not express gratitude for help given." Vivienne sighs as she gives a short, stiff curtsy.
"No kidding ma'am. Man, the Priesthood and the Antaam would never believe this even if they saw it with their own eyes." Bull huffs.
"Nor would the Seekers. But I am no fool who would deny what is right in front of her. You have our thanks, spirit." Cassandra bows shortly.
Roxanne sat in silence as she heals the last of her wounds herself. When she looks up at the spirit, her face shows that same weary calm Mhyrra witnessed when they had met for the first time.
"You have my thanks as well. For giving me the chance to finally fix even one of my mistakes for good. Were it only that they all were as simple to slay."
"The mistakes were Anders' and those he antagonized, hawk. Your only error was and still is believing them to be your own, along with countless other catastrophes you could never have prevented."
"I was the one in command. Wouldn't you be the first to say that the burden of responsibility falls to me?" Roxanne challenged, rising to her feet.
"True, but in reality, what were you truly in command of? The world? The city? No. Just you, your family and your companions.
Your sister succumbed to the Blight. Your mother fell prey to a vicious evil none could have foreseen. And one of your closest allies betrayed the trust he had garnered from you, even if that may not have been entirely his fault alone.
But the rest? Those whom your faith in them was well-placed and who chose to stand by you right until the end? They are alive, strong, and doing relatively well. All thanks to you. And now, you personally had a hand in fixing your own perceived mistake, instead of continuing to fear and flee it.
So I would posit that you fulfilled your self-imposed duty quite well, hawk. One instance of failure does not signal weakness. Nor does sacrifice.
It is giving up. Ceasing to fight for what you believe in because you no longer believe it in your heart to be worth fighting and living for despite your mind telling you it is hopeless.
So answer me, hawk. Are those close to your heart now so worthless to you that you would simply toss them aside and never look back?"
A breath as Roxanne straightens as her grip on her staff tightens.
"Never."
Kara lower eyelids curl upwards.
"Then continue moving forward, hawk. There are still those whom you would love nothing more than to walk besides. And who would love nothing more than to stand beside you."
Silence descend, though not uncomfortable.
"Right, thanks yeah?" Sera cuts through it with an awkward laugh. "Sooo…I guess this means you'll be hoppin' on back to dreamy-land? Maybe, Idunno, after getting' rid of all the walking skellies?"
Only then did everyone notice that the wisps, spectres and shambling remains still stood right as Kara had left them.
"Oh! Of course." With another wave of her hand, the corpses and skeletons crumbled to the ground, mana seeping out of them and evaporating just as the spiritual creatures faded into the aether.
"As for my departing, yes. That was the bargain after all. Although I am forced to admit, this world is not quite as repulsive as I had thought."
"Second thoughts?" Mhyrra queried.
A light chuckle. "None. The Fade is my dominion, and I am not curious to discover what might happen if I remain here without a vessel indefinitely. But I promise you this." She then spread her arms out, inclining her entire being forward. "We shall no doubt meet again. Until then, fare the well, all of you."
She began to glow, and a moment ticked by. Then another. Then several. After a full minute, the glow died down, and the width of her eyes clearly showed something was wrong.
"…Forget something?" Varric attempted.
"I…I cannot get back!"
That was certainly not what they were expecting to hear.
"Can't?" Vivienne parroted.
"Yes fop, can't! Cannot, am unable to, currently failing to accomplish!" Kara snapped.
"But why?" Mhyrra asked with some worry, turning towards Solas.
Before he could attempt to answer however, a quieter voice stepped in.
"She's too heavy."
All eyes turned with surprise to Cole, as much at him speaking up as to what he said.
"You know kid, it's pretty rude to call a lady fat." Varric couldn't help but chortle.
Cole slowly blinked. "She's not fat."
"Enough, spinner of tales." Kara interrupted before Varric could wind up another quip. She focused on Cole as he wrung his hands as per his usual. "Speak, Compassion."
Cole opened his mouth to do just that, then abruptly stopped, an infinitesimal frown marring his face as he seemed to mull something over for a moment. When he returned his gaze to meet hers, he spoke a bit louder.
"My name is Cole."
His sudden spine brought stares from one half of the group, smiles from the other.
"…Apologies." Kara responded with a softer tone. "Please continue, Cole."
Cole's entire being appeared to positively light up for a moment, before he quickly settled down and resumed his explanation.
"You're like me. Or maybe, what I might be. Or become." Sensing he might be slipping off track, he briskly attempted to clarify. "When I first stepped through, I was light, emptier. I could slip back and through almost like breathing. It's what made it so easy for people to forget. Except for Rhys…" He shook his again head, determined to finish coherently.
"But now, things have happened, to me and around me. Are different, feel different. I am different. I don't understand a lot of how though. Don't know if I'm too heavy to slip back. Haven't tried. Don't want to. To much hurt to help heal on this side, the closer side."
"Anyone else not got a clue what it's saying?" Sera whispered to Blackwall. He nodded his head.
"So, because of all that you have experienced in the time since you set foot on this world, you essentially became less of a spirit, becoming something…more, and it affected your ability to pass between the Veil?" Kara summed up.
Cole nodded vividly, happy to have managed to get the gist of his point across.
"Yes!...I think." He admitted. "But you, you did something I could never dream of. You thrice touched the blinding fires and came away not only cleansed, but forged greater." Cole lowered his hands, standing closer. "What was it like?"
A pause as Kara seems to give the question serious thought and Mhyrra, Solas and Dorian raise intrigued brows at the entire thing.
"Transcendent. And you are correct. I certainly feel…greater for it. But does this mean I would no longer require a vessel? Like you seem to have forgone one?"
"Maybe. It took a long time for me though. Needed to feed to grow. Had to fix before I could build." Cole answered. Followed by another frown. "But you don't want to stay, at least not now. So you shouldn't have to. You should get to go home."
"How?"
Cole blinked in confusion at her. "Through the door." He pointed down the succeeding hall that led deeper into the caves.
Realization. Mhyrra smacks her hand to her forehead.
"Of course! What are the Rifts after all, if not portals into the Fade?" She smiled with relief at the spirit. "Well Kara, seems goodbyes will wait just a bit longer. You slip back into the Fade through the Rift, and I close it behind you."
"You would do this for me?"
"But of course. Just be sure to pass as quick as you can. With demons and other horrors potentially still pouring out of it, I won't be able to hold off closing indefinitely."
"It seems as though I will be in your debt after all, Mhyrra Adaar."
"Allies and friends don't hold debts to one another. They just owe each other favours." Mhyrra corrects with a laugh, urging the group to resume marching with a swish of her coat.
Roxanne chuckles as Varric snorts. "Wish someone had told Rivaini that. Then again, owing her a favour might just be more dangerous to my health than owing the Merchants' Guild money."
"If it involves letting her run off with the Tome of Koslun again, definitely." Roxanne chimes.
Varric chortles again. "You really are never going to let that one go are you?"
"Nope." She pops back. "If I did, she might not come back a second time." She adds with zero gravitas.
"The more I hear and read about her, the more your 'Rivaini' sounds like either the world's greatest friend or the world's biggest headache." Mhyrra muses.
"Both." The two chorus without hesitation.
The fellowship's shared laugh reverberates down the cavern's halls.
Author's Notes: Well here we have it. My first real attempt at a 'battle' scene.
Maybe it's a bit too one sided, but keep in mind: this is ONE demon, no matter which one, against ALL the Companions, the Inquisitor, Hawke, AND a charged-up Spirit of Command.
Vengeance was never going to win. The only question was how much damage he could do before bitting the dust.
The answer: thanks to Teamwork and Kara, not much.^^
Not too much longer until we bring the Rift to a close and the shenanigans of Crestwood with it. Fingers crossed. XD
Cheers and Warm Tidings to You and All Your Kin Everyone! Y'All are Awesome and Wonderful!