Fighting past the Templars guarding the last remaining trebuchet wasn't easy. Each time we killed them and I began aiming it, more appeared. I tried to continue aiming while the people around me fought, but the Templars seemed to know it was me.
The one he was after . . . .
Was the Breach his doing? Was he angry that I had stopped it?
We managed, even when the largest corrupted Templar we had seen yet appeared, but we held our own. He kept coming after me, and at close range, I was pretty much defenseless, so it was hard to fight him off. With the help of my companions, however, we managed, and he fell.
And the trebuchet was in place.
I knew what would come next would be easier to escape alone, so I turned to the remaining soldiers and my friends. "You must follow the rest of the people up the mountain. Escape while you still can!"
"We're not leaving you, Boss!" the Iron Bull declared. "We fight with you."
"It wasn't a request," I said, and I pointed towards the others. "You must—"
The shrill of the archdemon from before cut me off, and my eyes immediately scanned the air for it. It was headed straight for us with little time to spare.
"Move!" I shouted. "Now!"
They all took off running, with me following behind them. I made it a point to stay in the back because I was the target, and if he was going to aim for something, it would be me.
The blast from the archdemon destroyed most everything behind me, but somehow, the trebuchet remained. As if Andraste herself protected it . . . .
I fell to the ground and smacked my head against it much harder than I was used to, but lately, I had been roughed around a lot more than I was used to. My body was worn, and I hurt all over, but I had to fight.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everyone running. As I commanded.
They were going to be safe.
My head was throbbing, but I had to get back on my feet. The distraction hadn't lasted long enough, and I had to protect everyone.
Approaching from the right, I saw the monster up close, the one they called the Elder One. It was even more horrifying to see it now.
His body had twisted and grown around the armor he once wore. It resembled a type of armor for mages I had seen once.
Red lyrium covered his skull, and his skin was twisted and tied around it. Long fingers with nails as twisted as the rest of his body, I was frightened all over again.
This was the beast that hunted me?
I rose to my feet and took a step away from him, but before I could run, the archdemon blocked the only other means of escape.
"Enough!" he exclaimed, and he lifted his hands. I didn't know what it did exactly, but the ground beneath my feet shook. "Pretender! You toy with forces beyond your ken no more!"
There was a darkness in his voice that was almost haunting. He sounded beyond what an abomination might be, and he looked the part as well.
I could scarcely breathe as I stood face-to-face with the man who would destroy an entire village just to get to me. "Who are you? What are you? Why would you do this?"
He almost smiled at my confusion but instead growled. "Mortals beg for truth they cannot have. It is beyond what you are, what I was. Know me. Know what you have pretended to be. Exalt the Elder One, the will that is Corypheus." He pointed one crooked finger at me and snarled. "You will kneel."
Though the archdemon still stood behind me, I took a step away from him again. "No, we won't. We will never stop fighting you!"
"You'll resist. You'll always resist," he said, and though his voice was menacing, it was soft. "It matters not. I am here for the Anchor. The process of removing it begins now."
He lifted up a glowing red orb in one hand, and the other hand had the same red glow. When he pushed the empty hand towards me, I felt my mark spark.
And it burned. The pain I suddenly felt resonating through my arm reminded me of when I first got the mark, before it was stable. It felt like he was trying to rip my arm off, and I couldn't stop him.
"It is your fault, Herald," he spat, and he only started pulling harder. "You interrupted a ritual years in the planning, and instead of dying, you stole its purpose. I do not know how you survived, but what marks you as touched, what you flail at rifts, I crafted to assault the very heavens."
He clenched his fists, and the pain got so bad I couldn't stand. My hand raised up on its own, burning as he worked to remove what he called "the Anchor." I didn't know if it was what he said or if it was something else entirely, but whatever he was doing to try and take it off was agonizing.
It hurt too much to make me numb, and I could no longer stand to hold it in the air. I fell onto my face and clenched my wrist, but the pain wouldn't stop. No matter how hard I tried to make it go away, I couldn't stop hurting.
"And you used the Anchor to undo my work. The gall!"
I let out a cry of rage, though the pain was great. I didn't want him to know I hurt, so I showed him the fierce side Cassandra insisted I show in battle. "What is this thing meant to do?"
"It is meant to bring certainty where there is none," he breathed. "For you, certainty that I would always come for it."
While I was immobilized on the ground, Corypheus took a few strides forward and yanked me off the ground. I wasn't a very tall person, but compared to the size of him, I looked even smaller. He held me up with one arm, with such little effort, and I realized just how tough this foe was.
"I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the old gods of the Empire in person," he said, but his eyes were set on the mark. "I found only chaos and corruption, dead whispers. For a thousand years, I was confused. No more. I have gathered the will to return under no name but my own, to champion withered Tevinter and correct this blighted world. Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods, and it was empty."
With little effort, if any at all, Corypheus threw my small frame against the hard trebuchet, and if I thought I was tired and worn before, I was shown what worn really was. My bones all seemed to be broken inside my body, yet I could move. My left hand was the worst, however, as it still felt like he had been pulling my arm off.
I let out a grunt as my body crashed into the metal and wood, but I tried my best to appear more resilient than I actually was.
"The Anchor is permanent," he said, and he walked towards me with a gleam of rage in his eyes. "You have spoiled it with your stumbling."
I noticed a sword lying on the ground near me, and for just a moment, I felt relief. Hope. No, I was in no way trained to use a sword, but he didn't have to know that. If I could just hold out long enough for the people to get to safety, it didn't matter if I could actually win or not.
I grabbed it up and stood to my feet, holding onto the trebuchet behind me for balance only for a moment. As I looked back to the Elder One, I noticed him and his dragon approaching, and neither looked happy.
"So be it," Corypheus growled, and his pet archdemon did the same. "I will begin again, find another way to give the world the nation—and god—it requires."
In the distance, I saw a flaming arrow shoot towards the sky. That must've been the signal the Commander told me to look for, so I felt true relief.
No matter what happened to me now, the people were safe.
Corypheus was closer now, so close I wondered if he saw the arrow as well. He showed no signs of it, but only showed his rage. "And you. I will not suffer even an unknowing rival. You must die."
I held the sword up and took a small step towards the lever that fired the trebuchet. Only slight, so it looked like I was standing ready to fight.
But that wasn't what I was doing at all.
"You expect me to fight," I said, and I almost smiled. "But that's not why I kept you talking. Enjoy your victory. Here's your prize!"
While confusion tore across the anger, I kicked the lever and fired the trebuchet into the mountain. One final avalanche to destroy everything, maybe even him—though that was unlikely. I took off running, hoping to find some means of escape, and the same kind of strange luck that put me in this place to begin with came to me again.
An underground shaft, probably used for mining or as a means of escape, had been busted open. It was just enough for me to jump into, barely escaping the avalanche as it ripped into Haven and destroyed everything.
My body was thrown against the banisters, smashed even more than what Corypheus had done to me, but now, I couldn't take it anymore.
It all went black from there.
Cullen was desperate to find her. Everyone had seen the way that creature held her up, threw her into the trebuchet. They saw the way she fought back and caused the avalanche, but the Elder One got away.
Did she? It was hard to say for sure. With the people out of danger, Cullen felt it was his duty to make sure.
Tents set up, campfires lit, the wounded tended to, Cullen knew it was time to set out for her. There was nothing more they could do at this point except wait, so why wait? Why not bring her to them?
Cassandra reached out to grab his arm the moment he took a step. "Cullen, where are you going?"
"She hasn't returned," Cullen said, and despite how well he had tried to hide it before, he couldn't pretend he didn't care. He couldn't pretend any longer. "We must help her."
Cassandra's eyes tightened. "She's tough, Commander. She's survived much worse than an avalanche."
"Then where is she?" Cullen whispered, and though he didn't like to think of the worst outcome, it was all his mind could come up with.
Cassandra frowned. "Commander, what are you expecting to come of this? You are the leader of the Inquisition's army. She is the Herald of Andraste."
"Right now, the only thing I care about is making sure she's safe!" Cullen exclaimed, and he turned back to Cassandra with rage burning in his eyes like the fire beside them. "I don't care what might come, what will never come. We left her to die."
"She made a choice, and we respected that choice, Commander," Leliana said, something that surprised Cullen. He hadn't realized she and Josephine were now in the conversation, but it didn't matter who was around. At this point, he didn't care if his entire army surrounded them.
"But what if she needs us to find her?" Cullen asked. "It wasn't that far away. Finding her shouldn't be that hard."
"We have an army to watch over," Leliana said, her voice very stern as the man looked towards the snowy direction they came from. "This isn't about one person."
Cullen looked back to Leliana with tight eyes. "How do you propose we close the rest of the rifts? And what do we plan to do if this monster strikes again?"
"He is right," Cassandra sighed. "We must go look for her."
Cullen shook his head and turned away from the group. He tried not to feel disgust with them because they were right to be hesitant, but it sounded like such a bother to them. This woman, who had done nothing wrong, had been treated so horribly from the beginning. Yet she willing risked everything to bring peace to the world.
And they couldn't find it in themselves to want to find her? Even if the danger had passed, it didn't seem right. Cullen liked to think that obsession or not, he would want to find her. Any time a soldier went missing, he wanted to find them and bring them back, or at least have closure.
Sure, it was different this time, but the concept was the same. She was a part of the Inquisition, if not the biggest part of the Inquisition. It was only right that they try.
Cullen knew only one person here was capable of watching over an army, at least for a short time. He found the Iron Bull quickly, and what he saw surprised him.
The Bull looked pissed.
"We're going to look for her," Cullen told him.
"I'm in."
Cullen shook his head. "I need you to stay here, watch over everyone. Leliana will stay behind to help, but she may need your assistance. There are more people than you're used to, but it'll only be for a few hours."
Bull stood to his feet and let his eyes narrow. He had a lot of respect for Cullen; he thought he was a damn good commander. But he had to make sure.
"She made us leave," Bull said. "You know that, right?"
Cullen's teeth clenched, and he very quickly averted his eyes, to anything but the large Qunari. "I assumed that was what happened."
Bull could see how tense Cullen was at just the idea that she was lost to them, so he got the answers he needed. "You'll find her, Commander. I don't think you'll give up until you do."
Cullen turned from Bull and tried to keep an impassive face, but the fear had set in. The worry had taken over, and a question haunted his mind.
Would he find her?
His feet stomped through the abundant snow, and his eyes tightened as he looked back to the rest of the group making the journey to find her. "Signal if we need to return."
But Bull knew he wouldn't signal.
Cullen's feet moved through the thickening snow faster than he thought possible. His armor usually slowed him down, but not this time. This time, he had to save her, and time was of the essence.
The Herald . . . he didn't even know her name, did he? No one did. All they knew was that she was the Herald of Andraste, and they didn't care to find out more.
Cullen cared, but names seemed so petty in the grand scheme of things.
Before he did anything, he removed the pauldrons around his armor, and then, he picked her up in his arms. It took a second to wrap his pauldrons around her nearly frozen body, but he took as much time as necessary to get her bundled up and pressed against his body.
Even if he was in armor, he had to give off some kind of body heat.
When he turned back towards the rest of the search party, he was surprised to find Cassandra standing right beside him with one eyebrow raised. Cullen didn't acknowledge her in any way, and instead, he turned back towards the camp and continued to hold this beautiful angel close.
They could think whatever they wanted. Cullen just wanted her to be safe.
He hadn't let her safety stop him from doing what was best before, and he wouldn't start any time soon. Despite his obsession . . . his feelings . . . he would always be able to let her go.
Right?
