Chapter Text

Dorian scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. The mage knew that whatever it was that Alexius tried to do didn't work, he didn't manage to kill present day Alysia, so that clearly meant that Alexius failed.

"Right, so we've been dead for almost a year," he double-checked, to which the others nodded grimly. "So, that means that current us, haven't experienced that horrendous future. We were just transported into the future, so in truth, we've only experience a couple of hours since our meeting with Alexius," Dorian said triumphantly.

"So, we can fix this?" Alysia asked, eyes growing wide at the thought.

"Yes. I've dealt with magic like this before. I know how it works. I am pretty sure we can fix this," he said, his mind now working on a plan to get them out of their future.

Bull shot Dorian a thrilled look, lifting his entire body off the floor in embrace. "Hurry! You must never let this come to pass. I will not let this happen, twice, to our Herald, "his voice full of fear.

Dorian's eyes grew wide at the sudden display of emotion from the man who only but wanted to kill him a few hours ago.

"Right. We have to get to the throne room, I'm sure Alexius should still be in there," Blackwall said to them.

"Hurry now, we can't delay," Dorian shouted as he and Alysia rushed through the hallway they came from. "If my knowledge is right, we should be able to get back from the place where we came from," he continued while rushing through the flight of stairs.

Alysia nodded at the mage who seemed determined to change their future. They reached the top of the stairs, and wandered to the left corridor. Alysia looted whatever weapons and armors she could find to outfit everyone, and as soon as they were battle ready she set off to find Alexius through the door at the end of a narrow hallway. Her expression grew grave when she saw the castle reduced to nothing but ruin, the rubble blocked off most of the entrances into the throne room. They walked cautiously through the ruined castle, trying their best not to draw too much attention to them; she knew that in her companion's current state they were in no shape or form to be able to take out a large number of guards. If the throne room she was in, in the past seemed eerie, the future was so much more sinister. Zombie like men dragged their feet across the ground, body too heavy to move from lyrium growing from on their skin like scales—it was truly a ghastly sight to behold.

As she and her companions were racing down an empty hallway, Alysia heard a gut wrenching scream that made her stop dead on her track, Bull almost barreled into the tiny human who was now turning back on her heels. Somewhere down the hallway, she knew someone she recognized was screaming. She rushed down the hallway as he companions swiftly followed her from behind; her mind begged for her intuition to be wrong, her heart pounded loudly in her chest as she stopped in front of the door from which the voice came from. She could hear muffled yells coming from behind the door; her breathing grew shallow as she reached for the doorknob, hands shaking as she turned it. What lay before her was gruesome and something she hoped to never see again. Strung up to the ceilings with metal chains was a scrawny looking woman, who was wearing filthy rags that might have once resembled proper clothing. Her head had patches of hair, most of which had burnt or fallen off, her skin had deep dark patches all over it, she had burn marks all over her abdomen, and she was still bleeding from fresh wounds along her arms and legs. A guard held a hot knife towards her skin, pulling it along her upper thigh, causing her to yell in pain. The smell of burnt flesh made Alysia want to spew, she sucked on her tongue hard in attempt to hold her stomach down. The prisoner looked up at Alysia and her eyes grew wide with confusion, her mouth fell at the sight, and eyes welled with tears.

The guard turned around to face the person that interrupted his enjoyment, before he could reach out for his dagger, her companions made short work of him, mercilessly killing the man who almost called out for reinforcements. Alysia quickly grabbed the key from the dead guard and freed the woman, who tumbled into her arms. She clung onto her scrawny figure, feeling her heart ache at the woman who could barely hold herself up.

"Alysia… my love… you're alive," the woman said through tears.

"Aurelia… what did they do to you…" she said through her throat now throbbing with pain.

Aurelia's tears spilled on to Alysia's warm face, she cupped Alysia's face with her hands and kissed her forehead.

Dorian eyed them and proceeded to walk out of the room, prompting everyone else to follow him. They shut the door behind them and let the two sisters bond over their lost time, more so Aurelia's.

"They said that you died… but I couldn't believe it, so I went to look for you. For months. Months, Aly. I tried…" her voice drifted into sadness, her hands still shaking on Alysia's face.

"How are you here? Right before me? Looking the same as you did when you left? While I rot here in rags, father will not be pleased with my… attire," she joked through tears.

Alysia embraced her sister, feeling bones protrude from her body. I will kill him.

"Alexius' magic didn't work… I never died. I won't die," she said to her sister while trying to swallow back the well in her throat.

"Thank the Maker," she exclaimed while boring her eyes into her sisters. "Aly… I'm sorry for putting you through this. This whole mess was my fault."

"Lia… it isn't. You did nothing."

"Yes. I did. I told you to meet me at the Conclave, so that I could keep you safe, away from father after it.. But instead my mistake brought you more pain that what you had to go through back home," she said, choking on her tears.

"No..."

"You're not an abnormality, Aly. Father… what he did or what he planned for you was horrible. The letter he sent…. He doesn't know that you survived the Conclave… he thinks you died." She ran her hands through Alysia's long locks, "You're free…" she said, her body weary from pain.

Alysia's eyes grew-wide at her sister's words, lips quivering, she tried to speak but nothing came out. So she settled for a silent nod from her inability form any words; she pressed her forehead to her sister's, praying to the Maker that this future would never come to pass. This version of Aurelia was not something that she ever wanted to see again; her sister, so brave, beautiful and courageous was now reduced to nothing but a broken human with regret in her eyes.

"Quickly, we have to leave this place," Alysia said while lifting her sister by the arm, she placed Aurelia's arms over her shoulders to help her sister stand up. It took great effort for Aurelia to keep up with her sister; her body shook from malnutrition, legs too tired to lift her entire weight. The fresh burn on her leg stung terribly, but Aurelia forced her mind to numb the pain, in hopes that her aching body would attempt to keep up with the rest.

They left the torture room and rejoined the others who were standing guard outside the door. As soon as Aurelia found herself a decent bow, arrows and armor, they set off to look for the throne room, they ran across another deserted hallway and found themselves in a drawbridge room, the stairs above them seemed to lead to something but the walk up would prove to be difficult for everyone except Dorian and Alysia. She looked at her companions with worry in her eyes but determination reflected in theirs, they could not bear to be the ones to slow Alysia down from changing this future, so they pushed on through the pain in their bones and ache in their minds.

As soon as they reached the top they found a door that led to an empty hallway, Alysia stopped for a moment to regain her breath, her legs were starting to ache from walking around this maze of a castle. As they reached down the hallway, she saw two mages sacrifice themselves, yelling something about the Elder One as their blades ripped through their necks, soaking their white robes completely. Alysia turned her head away and moved quickly down another path, ignoring the gruesome sight before her and as she reached the end, it opened up into a foyer. She walked cautiously around the it, hoping that nothing was lurking behind the tall pillars; as she was making her way around the deserted chamber she saw a boy, somewhere in his teens standing in front of the fireplace talking to himself, before she could approach the child, he reached out for a dagger in his pocket and slit his neck, opening his slender throat wide open.

"… That was…" Aurelia whispered to herself while gazing at the lifeless body on the floor.

"… Let's move on," Bull said through his husky voice.

The group proceeded through the foyer, forcing their mind to grow numb at whatever it was they witnessed. Alysia felt her heart pound fiercely now as she finally reached the last door to the throne room, as she opened the door she was greeted by a couple of guards who were quick enough to sound the alarm for reinforcements, Alysia knew that they only had a little time left to dispose of the current guards and make their way back.

Bull and Blackwall charged ahead at a guard, slicing quickly through his body, their blades dug deep into the guard's chest, splitting the silence in the room into a sickening dull thud. Aurelia made short work of the other guard by shooting an arrow right through the middle of the man's eyes; in between the heavy breathing from everyone and Dorian's mumbling, inhuman sounds started to echo outside of the doors.

"Quickly! Hold my hand and whatever you do, do not let go of it," he ordered her, Dorian felt the ground rumble from something behind the door, he turned his gaze to the others. "You need to fend them off while I cast this, if they interrupt us I'm afraid that we will be stuck here forever." The other nodded grimly at him as they gripped their weapons tightly.

Solas shot her a quick look, mouthing something at her. She felt her heart tighten with pain, she wanted to reach out to the mage but she couldn't let her emotion ruin Dorian's plan. Solas casted a protective barrier over the pair, his eyes crinkled slowly at the side as he regarded Alysia one last time.

"Close your eyes, love!" Aurelia cried out to Alysia as soon a horde of demons burst through the doors.

Blackwall was the first to go down, then Bull as a large Pride demon ripped through their body into two, throwing their lifeless body on the ground while it growled at the others.

"No!" she screamed through her teary face as she watched Solas be the third to fall to the demons, his eyes slowly grew lifeless, his pale skin was painted red as a demon ripped his throat off with its bare hands.

"Shut your eyes, everything is going to be fine!" Aurelia cried out again as she shot an arrow through another demon that almost had her. The woman was swift with her bow, shooting as many as she could at demons that could potentially interrupt Dorian's fervent chanting. Alysia felt her body grow lighter and her surroundings grow darker, everything around was slowly starting to dissolve. She opened her eyes slowly to look at her sister who was falling to the ground, head smashed through by a demon.

Alysia screamed out her sister's name into nothing as the darkness wrapped itself around her.