Something was wrong.
Nathaniel wasn't sure what though, and found himself tensing as a startled animal as he stalked forth, a little over a dozen feet ahead of the others.
The caves they had found had been guarded by an old, crumpling fort, which they had easily moved into, happy to get into the darkness underneath where they couldn't hear the sounds of battle and the screams of dying soldiers. Even the corruption of darkspawn filth covering the walls as they descended the tunnels, that Sigrun had assured them weren't of dwarven make, had been welcomed. Nathaniel had an odd feeling of them all...enjoying it.
Perhaps it's because we can't hear the dying down here. He found his mouth frowning. He knew Lynn's idea of a distraction was a good one, their objective before all after all. But it was at the same time wrong to sacrifice soldiers that had fought so hard for her, who had given their all and rightly deserved a rest, a small hamlet each at the least... Not death... He shook his head. Life's not fair, move on.
Why was something wrong though? The enemy attack upon the column had drained the defences, Nathaniel was sure that without it they would have been challenged at the gate of the ruins. Yet now the place was silent, not a single darkspawn to confront them, nothing but empty hallways and the distant sound of dripping water. It made sense, even though Nathaniel would, if he'd been in their shoes, left a few guards behind, he couldn't ask such sense from darkspawn however.
Yet...for all of them to leave...it is a bit of overkill, even for darkspawn. Nathaniel kept expecting a tug in his chest signifying their presence, but it was nothing but a distant thing...
But no, it wasn't that that felt wrong, not really.
Perhaps it was the feel of them closing in on their target? To find the end of their journey? The group sure had been quiet...
Glancing back he found Lynn at the head of the others, the Commander's body-language looking...impatient...as if straining not to brush past him and rush forth into whatever awaited them. Just behind her Velanna hovered, frowning at him, as she had for an age now it felt. I'll get sleep later dammit...he shot a frown back, making the woman smirk, if barely.
Justice was, as always, stoic and silent, even with his heavy armour, looking calm and steady as he marched forth...then again...what did a spirit inhabiting a corpse have to lose? Next to him Sigrun walked, the dwarf looking particularly small compared to the sizable corpse, she almost seemed to have acquired some of the man's behaviour. Her was face a mask of neutrality as she slowly walked beside him, eyes introvert as she gazed at her feet, reminding Nathaniel all too poignant of the legion of the dead warriors she had once left behind in the deep roads. This must be hell for her.
No, it wasn't something that specific. Just a feeling...a feeling of something being...amiss? Turning his head left and right Nathaniel narrowed his eyes, glaring at the dark side-passages he'd so far ignored, the trail clear as to where they should go. Was it an ambush waiting to happen? No...he cocked his head to the side, trying to...listen...not sure as to what he was listening for. All he knew was that there was no ambush, it was far more...peculiar...
Suddenly he wished for an attack, a fight, surely they had gotten deep enough to encounter something?
As if sensing his thoughts something appeared.
Nathaniel stumbled to a halt, blinking, dazed as he realised a single figure was suddenly standing before them, half hidden in shadows, where he knew nothing had been a moment before.
An oath and an arrow was pulled back on his bow, Justice and Sigrun both moving to guard his flanks with drawn weapons, their formation coming on instinct.
Only Lynn and Velanna didn't move. The shorter elf merely standing there, head cocked. And the other...
"S-Seranni?" Velanna's voice was tiny.
Nathaniel eased back the string of his bow, licking his lips nervously as his gaze darted to the woman slowly inching past him, then back to the figure stepping out of the shadows.
Velanna was moving furtively, like a worried cat testing going closer to the sleeping dog. Her eyes were large with wonder and emotion, tears already forming at the corners. Her lips trembling. Her right hand clutched her staff, yet she held it lowered, forgotten...the other was reaching out, slender fingers pushing outwards, as if slipping through fabric hanging before her...
She was moving as if in a dream...while the other elf just stood there...sombre and...
It was horrible.
The woman was still nearly as tall as Velanna, still feminine in her shape, though a little stockier then before. Her pale skin was virtually gone, replaced by the dark blue veins that now seemed to cover her entire skin, veins that had grown black and rough. Her eyes were calm, calm and pale, dead save a lone ghost of sadness. Her hair pale and white as snow, dead as it framed her face. Her cheeks had sunken more since Nathaniel had seen her last, a lifetime ago it felt like, sunken and covered with the same bulging black veins, making it look as if her skin was actually covered with dark worms. She wore no armour any more, only a loose robe of brown cloth, torn and frayed, no weapons either...yet Nathaniel felt threatened.
Grimly he realised it was fear he felt, fear of turning into something similar...filthy and tainted, on the outside, not just within his veins...he felt his chest tighten at the thought.
A small smile of the monster before them, revealing a hint of yellowing fangs. "Sister...it's good to see you."
The tainted thing made no attempt to move closer, and Velanna only made two more steps before coming to a halt, her mouth moving, but no sounds coming as her hand was lowered, eyes still large, now with horror.
The smile remained, if weakly, as the creature bowed her head slightly and said: "You look good with your hair down...always told you that..."
"Seranni..." Velanna croaked the name, her head lowering along with her arms, shoulder slouching in defeat, her whole body swaying, as if caught in some unfelt wind.
Nathaniel crossed the distance, two hands landing on her shoulders, squeezing them even as he kept his narrowed eyes upon the creature before them.
He only found a tainted smile, benevolent and kind despite the wicked fangs, aimed in his direction. "Thank you human...that gives me hope...for her."
Nathaniel opened his mouth, but found nothing to say.
"Tell me why I shouldn't gut you right now." Lynn was suddenly next to the pair, sword drawn and pointing at the creature, though her stance was almost...relaxed.
"Lynn!" Velanna nearly shrieked the name and whirled about to glare at Lynn, making Nathaniel's grip on her shoulders tighten as the sudden movement nearly made the swaying elf fall over.
The creature looked back at the armoured warrior calmly, uncaring of the threat, gazing at the dark visor with sad pale eyes...
And Lynn looked away.
It was merely s tiny shift of her armoured head, but it was there...
Silence.
Then the monster spoke, the harsh voice strange as it assumed a diplomatic tone: "Because I'm nothing but a messenger. The Architect wishes to see you."
Silence.
Then Lynn lowered her blade, though her voice remained sharp. "Explain."
"He believes you have a mutual interest..." The creature shrugged, speaking slowly, as if having all the time in the world. "He sent many of his warriors to the surface to combat those of the Mother's to help you." The darkspawn that fought the others... "He did this to save you, to help you, because he believes you two can together defeat the Mother, to stop her madness."
"Why would I listen to a creature of filth such as it?" Lynn snorted the words, but the scorn sounded unconvincing. "Darkspawn cannot be reasoned with..."
"Am I not proof of the opposite?" The creature queried with a faint smile. "All he asks is for you to listen to his offer, to hear what he has to offer us...all of us..." The smile widened a fraction, gaze darting to Velanna even as a blackened, taloned hand reached towards the elf...only to fall as the smile faltered. A small sigh and the monster shrugged as it turned back to regarding Lynn: "And once you're done listening, you are, if you do not condone his idea...free to kill him."
"That's an odd offer..." Nathaniel muttered, eyes darting between the worryingly pale Velanna and the creature that once had been an elf. "What's the catch?"
"No catch." The creature smirked at him, surprising him by still being capable of amusement. "It's an offer of someone utterly convinced of his cause." He head turned back, regarding the impassive armoured head of the Commander. "And that you will accept his offer."
Silence.
A distant drip of water.
Justice's armour creaking as the warrior suddenly shifted, uncomfortable for some reason.
"Very well..." Lynn did not sound the least eager. "...take us to the architect."
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It didn't take long to reach him, even with Nathaniel supporting a Velanna that might as well have been struck mute with all that she replied to his more and more panicked attempts to rouse her from her shock.
His attempts, and Velanna's silence, had ended with their arrival.
The room was small, a mere alcove in the large cave path leading to whatever that 'Mother' was. It was easily illuminated by a single glowing stone of amber resting on the staff of the creature. The Architect was much as Nathaniel remembered it from being bent over him so long ago. Tall compared to even a hurlock, spindly...and bowed over its staff, as if suffering
The white eyes regarding the group were calm, though its long fingers drummed upon the staff it leant on.
"You monster!" Velanna's shock was immediately gone.
She leapt forth, her hands curling into claws, only to have Nathaniel grab her shoulders and hold her back, worried eyes upon the Architect's staff, so casually leant on, as if it was nothing but a stick upon which it supported itself on... His attention was however torn back to Velanna as she pulled and struggled against his grip, her hands curling into fists, her voice a mad shriek: "Change her back! Change her back now!"
The Architect's voice was a dry rasp: "My apologies, I cannot-"
"Change her back!" Velanna leapt, and all Nathaniel could do was to in panic wrap both his arms around her waist and bodily drag her back as she struggled like possessed. "I demand that you-!"
The slap echoed within the chamber, hard and metallic as the back of Lynn's gauntlet caught the other elf's cheek, knocking her head sideways and practically turning her limp in Nathaniel's arms, creating a red mark upon Velanna's cheek, stained by blood, even as the Dalish continued to speak, but now in a mere mutter: "Change her back...change her back...change her back..." It was a mantra, a mantra keeping her up, a mantra keeping her down.
Maker...
Nathaniel didn't know what to do, so he settled for shooting Lynn a glare before dropping to one knee, letting Velanna slip down into his arms as he held her. "It's okay, just let them talk, it's all you can do..."
The woman's eyes were closed, refusing to meet his earnest gaze as her lips kept moving in a whisper: "Change her back...change her back...change her back..."
"It'll be okay, as you said...hope...hope..." He moved a hand up, pushing her hair back over her ear even as the other cradled her head. Maker, she's not...no...no! "You've got to...please...hope..." I don't even hope...I can't convince her...Maker no...!
"You had an offer." Lynn's voice was empty as she with equally neutral stance, regarded the creature standing before her. "Speak it now."
"Commander." Justice growled, interrupting the emissary as it opened its mouth. "This is a creature of filth, Kristoff's memories are full of hatred, as am I, this monster is responsible for the slaughter of countless humans, and as you yourself told me, it even ambushed you and your friends to perform experiments on you, justice demands that we slay it now."
Lynn ignored him, dark slits of her armour fixed upon the emissary. "Speak."
"Commander..."
Lynn spun, leg flying high and wide.
A clang.
And Justice fell onto his back, his helmet dented where her heel had struck.
A moment later the elf was standing as if she'd never moved, regarding the darkspawn even as she spoke: "I'll ask your opinion when I want it." She raised a hand, pointing it at the darkspawn, an impatient gesture. "Now, speak."
"Very well." If the pale creature felt any surprise at the behaviour of the woman facing it it didn't show in his face as he bowed his head. "The Mother is nearby, she's mad and intends to fight your kind to her last breath, she intends to start a new blight, to start the song that it brings again."
"The song?" Lynn repeated, tone neutral.
"The song is something my kind always hears...but it can only be perfect when one of the old gods is awakened." The Architect cocked his head to the side, eyes closing, listening even as its tone grew soft. "It's beautiful..." The eyes opened again, a hint of flint within them. "...and enslaving. My brethren must free the old gods, they must find the song and start a new blight, swarm the surface and be killed by your kind, they cannot help it. Me...I have made a choice, a choice not to listen, to make my own path, to choose."
The others were listening intently, Seranni standing in the shadow of the Architect, a silent supporter whose pale eyes remained upon the creature with a look of worship in them, not even glancing at the still muttering Velanna.
Sister indeed... Nathaniel almost growled where he sat, holding Velanna, gently rocking her back and forth as he kept stroking her hair, only listening to the exchange with half an ear as he kept staring at her face, waiting for when those eyes might open. His voice trembled: "She's alive." Delilah... He swallowed. "She's alive and well, remember that." Delilah... He swallowed again, blinking. Not now. "You...she's alive...positive even...that's so-something..." Delilah! He sniffled, held her close, the comforting hand going through her hair as much for her sake as for his own all of a sudden.
"And this Mother?"
"A mistake." The Architect muttered it, a tone of regret in his raspy voice. "I have tried to free many of my brethren, some listen. As for the Mother...I freed her from the call...and it drew her mad...she desires the song, there's nothing but it on her mind...and she'll slaughter all on the surface to find it once more."
Velanna still refused to open her eyes, the woman limp in his arms, her hands making furtive gestures to try and get up, only to drop back down again. "Change her back...please...Seranni..." Maker please...
Nathaniel felt...powerless...
Bowing his head he rested his forehead against Velanna's shoulder as both his hands dug into her hair, clutching at her. "Please...Velanna...you're always strong...don't...don't be like this...not now..."
"And how is this involve me? Other then that I should kill you for making such a mistake in addition to being a filthy monster?"
"Because at this moment there are thousands of my brethren between you and the mother, because I desire you to succeed in killing her, because I can help you in reaching her, to end her." The emissary retorted, impassive. "Because I, in freeing my brethren, desire peace between our two kinds. The mother was a mistake yes, but one of many successes, imagine it, no more blights..."
A pause.
Long and tense...the Commander...seemingly vibrating within her armour.
"No more blights?" The voice was...tense...a flicker of energy in it, eagerness
"Yes...I can make it a reality." The Architect spoke of it as fact, no boasting, no hesitation, conviction. "But in order to do so the Mother must die, she cannot continue her hunt for the old gods, she cannot be allowed to create a new blight."
"We are here to end her, as Wardens we stop the blights..." Lynn's voice shook ever so slightly. "...but...no more blights...ever?"
Behind him Seranni's head bobbed in eagerness, yellowed fangs bared into a mad grin, the Architect nodded as well, but more sedately. "Yes, my brethren cannot choose their fate, so I will make it for them...and they will, once it's complete, never again threaten your kind again."
Silence.
Silence save Nathaniel's murmuring as he held Velanna tight, misery rolling over him in waves as he stared at her eyelids, begging them to open. "Please Velanna...you have us, you have a life, you have..." Delilah...I... "...me...please...don't...don't think about it..."
Blinking he realised he was crying.
But none noticed.
"Very well." Lynn's voice was anything but casual, there was a vigour in it Nathaniel had never heard...yet he couldn't bring himself to care. "I accept your help, together we will slay the Mother and...stop the blights..." Dreaming...
"Excellent." The Architect nodded, a small smile on his thin lips. "We will begin immediately, time is of the essence." With that he moved to leave...and Lynn followed, forcing the hesitant Justice and Sigrun to follow from a distance.
Should get up, follow.
Nathaniel couldn't bring himself to do so though, to pick up Velanna and get them to move after the rest, not yet. Instead he continued to stay on one knee, with Velanna, holding her tight, as if she'd disappear if he didn't. Delilah...Seranni...all the pain...it's...it's not fair...
Seranni was lingering behind, inching towards them, her eyes were sad, but nothing near worried, and she eyed the pair with more curiosity then any real emotion. Coming closer she reached out...
And Nathaniel found himself pulling Velanna away from the clawed fingers, glaring through the haze of tears at the filthy creature. "No." He snapped the word, an order. "You've done enough to her, leave her alone."
Hesitation...then the elf-turned-monster pulled back, the sadness in her eyes growing for a moment, then gone as its thoughts effortlessly shifted, gaze turning to look after where the others had gone.
She did not turn to cast any final look at her sister, nor spoke any word of goodbye, not even really caring any more.
She left.
A true monster.
And Nathaniel held Velanna tight as the elf wordlessly began to cry, the pair an island of misery in the darkness around them.
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for being weird.