By the way, the first part of this chapter is from Varric's POV. Later chapters will often alternate between character POVs as well.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Dragon Age original plotline, characters, or games. These are all the property of the amazing Bioware team, and I am merely a fan reveling in the beautiful and intricate world that they have built.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
.*.*. ҉ .*.*.
Varric POV
The path to the forward camp was, unsurprisingly, infested with demons. They popped up faster than weeds, shooting out from green-glowing portals on the ground, emerging from the ugly crystals that made metallic clanking noises. Varric was too preoccupied wiping off the demon shit from his coat to study Cassandra's latest victim, but he saw enough to acknowledge her as a fellow rogue.
The victim in question, that elf girl the Seeker was dragging around, was a damn good rogue. The elf was small but she was quick, using her weightless frame to her advantage by slicing and dodging and weaving her way through battle. By the time her foes turned to face her, she was already slipping behind them and attacking from a new direction. She wore her enemies down little by little, distracting them from the more lethal cuts until it was too late to realize the danger they posed.
And then Varric would send an arrow in for the kill shot.
The way of the warrior was all force and strength, turning war and battle into sport. But the way of the rogue was an art form, in Varric's humble opinion. A dance of death, a rain of arrows, the glitter of blades, slipping in and out of shadows and dodging attacks with fluidity. Poetry in motion.
Ah, but now was not the time for him to be waxing rhetoric.
Cassandra was taking on two demons at a time while Solas and the other elf – La... La-something, right? Damn elves and their weird names – had teamed up against a demon that had attempted to sneak up on him, and Varric helped them all out whenever he saw an opening. It was quite repetitive, really. The demons always used the same moves, making them quite predictable after the first ten dozen encounters.
I almost miss Kirkwall street-fighting. At least those guys got creative. Varric thought wryly as he launched one last volley of arrows into the shade behind Cassandra. The Seeker swung around at the sound of its screeching, only to watch it die from Bianca's arrows. Varric caught her eye and winked at her, earning a dirty look from the Seeker.
Once the battle appeared to be over, Varric and Solas swung their weapons over their shoulders and onto the harnesses on their backs, Varric caressing his crossbow for a moment before doing so. Cassandra was already approaching them, her weapon and shield put away, though her hand remained resting on the pommel of her sword. The elf girl was walking off to the side of Solas, swinging her knives with appalling casualness. Varric never treated Bianca with such disrespect!
What was her name... dang, how did he already forget it?
As if to reinforce her disdain of the blades, the female elf cast an exasperated glance at her knives before slipping them into her belt, seeing as she had no sheath for them, since she had been stripped of everything during her stay in prison. Even her armor seemed to have been picked up from some dead soldier, as it was too loose and too bulky to fit her body type; if he had to guess, the scout uniform most likely had belonged to a man. Varric understood the struggle. He made a note to lecture Cassandra about the meaning of hospitality one day – preferably when they were separated by a small country.
"Think there are any more?" Varric asked no one in particular as he glanced around one last time.
"They would be attacking us if there were." Cassandra retorted, accompanied by her usual huff whenever addressing him. "However we will no doubt run into more of them the closer we get to the forward camp. Let us pray that the prisoner's mark will aid us in preventing more from entering our world."
"Sha - ael! My name is not The Prisoner!" Not The Prisoner rolled her eyes and she shook her tunic, as defeated demons had a tendency to explode into dust whenever they were banished, leaving the party covered in an unpleasant layer of residue. "Ugh, your Maker should put us on his payroll for all the demons we've been slaying."
Varric and Solas both snorted, and even Cassandra seemed amused before she remembered not to be, and scowled. Geez, Seeker, would it kill ya to smile? I know the world is falling apart and shit, but the poor girl is trying.
They reached yet another bridge, this one blocked by a rift. Soldiers of an unknown heraldry were already fighting against the shades that emerged from the hole into the Fade. Although this close to the Breach, the only possible answer were that they were Chantry soldiers.
"Let's make this quick!" Sha'ael growled, knives already in hand.
With that, the little elf rogue flew past the rest of them, flying towards a demon that had cornered a soldier. Sha'ael slammed into its back and reached around to shove her dagger into its face.
Slow down, girl! Varric thought in annoyance as he scrambled to load Bianca with more bolts.
The dwarf exchanged an exasperated look with Solas as Cassandra charged in after her, the warrior rushing forward to engage the enemy with a fierce battle cry, while the mage seemed to explode with magic. Varric fell into the familiar rhythm of loading and firing his crossbow, the creak of Bianca's gears and the twang of her wires like a lullaby to his ears.
With most of the demons occupied, the other rogue approached the rift, warily holding up her marked hand. Varric covered her while she was preoccupied, as the position tended to leave her vulnerable. So he kept the demons from lashing their claws at her, at least until Cassandra or Solas managed to cut them down.
And just like that, the rift sucked shut.
There was a collective sigh of relief from the nearby soldiers.
"The rift is gone. Open the gates!" Cassandra commanded.
The men scrambled back towards their posts, a few heading towards the levers that opened the doors. The gate swung open with a loud groan. Varric put away his weapon and started towards the entrance to the bridge, passing the glowy elf on the way. Sha'ael was staring at her hand, still sparking with magic that it had somehow absorbed from closing the rift.
"Whatever the thing on your hand is, it's useful." He told her.
His fellow rogue looked up and through the gates, allowing her hand to drop to her side.
"Being a tool is useful. That does not mean that I enjoy being one." Sha'ael muttered without glancing at him, following Cassandra through the gates and onto the bridge.
Everyone's just doom and gloom today, aren't we? Varric shook his head as he followed his fellow rogue.
.*.*. ҉, .*.*.
Sha'ael POV
Approaching the other end of the bridge, Sha'ael heard raised voices and shouting coming from two seemingly prominent figures. Upon closer inspection, she recognized the woman as the rogue from her interrogation – Leliana, was it? The other participant in the argument was a cleric, as could be deduced from his clothing. And they seemed to be talking about her…
"…do no such thing!" The man scoffed.
Leliana glowered at his back. "The prisoner must get to the Temple of Sacred Ashes! It is our only chance!"
The Prisoner? Again? What did I just say?!
The redhead and cleric finally noticed the approach of Cassandra, then belatedly took in the arrival of the Seeker's companions. She automatically felt enmity for the cleric, if his dirty looks were any indication, he was going to be a pain in the ass.
"Ah, here they come." He sneered.
Yup, I'm sensing assholery afoot.
Leliana gave them a less hostile welcome as she strode forward, her eyes glancing up and down each of the newcomers for any injuries. "You made it." She said with relief. "Chancellor Roderick, this is –"
"I know who she is." He cut her off with a sneer. Sha'ael entertained herself with a mental image of her knife introducing itself to his face. The chancellor then pointed rather rudely towards the elf saying, "As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution!"
You are making me very annoyed, little man. If this idiot doesn't have a pole shoved up his ass already, I'm going to do it for him. She seethed.
"So much for a trial." Sha'ael muttered to Cassandra. The Seeker surprised her by giving her a reassuring look, before turning back to Roder-dick and curling her lip.
"'Order me'?" Cassandra scoffed at him. "You are a glorified clerk! A bureaucrat!"
Oh shit, smackdown time! She began commentating in her head as if it was a fighting match.
"And you are a thug!" Oh no he didn't. "A thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!" Oh but he did!
Sha'ael resisted the urge to smirk. Well, at least all the drama about her execution and whatnot was being circumvented towards the man attempting to order it. He must be truly suicidal to speak to either of the dangerous women in such a manner. Even if she did end up at the hangman's noose, at least she was entertained.
There's something wrong with me. Ah well, it wasn't something that had not occurred to her before.
"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor, as you well know." Leliana stated, and only an idiot would not have heard the underlying threat. They outranked him, as much as he would pretend otherwise.
"Justinia is dead!" Roderick threw up his hands.
And you sound just soooo broken up about it. Sha'ael sighed and leaned her weight onto one leg, idly looking around as the Chantry people bickered. Politics. Ugh.
"We must elect a replacement and obey her orders on the matter."
Sha'ael raised a brow at him. "Oh for the love of all things holy, would you shut your trap already? Your voice ought to be a death sentence in itself."
Varric snickered shamelessly behind her.
"You brought this on us in the first place!" The man snarled back defensively.
"And what is your proof?" Sha'ael hummed aloud as she stood up straight, and despite her slight build, managed to appear to look down on him. "Just because I happened to survive the blast does not mean that I was the perpetrator."
That's right. I can use big words too, little bitch.
"Besides," And here she crossed her arms. "If I had been behind the attack, why would I have stayed in the Conclave? Why would I not escape beforehand? And if I was the perpetrator, I would not be stupid enough to wait around for you to pull your head out of your ass and figure out my punishment. And as you can see, I am here, and I am helping you put the world back together. And because it seems like you forgot, let me remind you: there's a big fucking hole in the sky! No one has time to pander to your petty ego."
Take that! Sniveling coward. Sha'ael mentally high-fived herself, feeling very pleased. The chancellor sputtered for a moment, either astonished at her abrasive tone or at the fact that this 'Dalish heathen' actually possessed an educated vocabulary with words longer than 'shemlen'.
Finally he seemed to think that ignoring her would just make her go away, and so he turned to Cassandra. "Call a retreat, Seeker. Our position here is hopeless."
"Ye of little faith." Sha'ael murmured with a wry tilt to her lips (Ha, see what she did there? Cause he's a priest? Eh? Puns for the win!). She heard Varric smother another snigger behind her.
Cassandra approached the table with a resolute expression. "We can stop this before it's too late."
And you, clearly, have too much faith. Sha'ael 's mood instantly dampened as she frowned at the Seeker. Oh dear, surely Cassandra would not insist that they storm the Breach?
"We must get to the temple. It is the quickest route."
She intends to storm the Breach, doesn't she? Am I allowed to sit this one out? Sha'ael sighed heavily, earning an amused look from the mage and a sympathetic pat on the arm from the dwarf.
"There's no refusing Cassie when she wants something done." Varric said to her.
She raised her brows. "Cassie?"
He shrugged. "I'm testing out nicknames."
She chuckled in response.
Leliana and Cassandra debated over which route to take to get to the center of the attack on the Conclave, and Roderick continued to whine that it was fruitless. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the man. He pretended to be all important and mighty, but the moment he was asked to risk something he turned into a sniveling coward. And here she thought the Andrastians preached courage in the face of death.
Suddenly the sky groaned as the Breach shuddered, sending out another pulse. Sha'ael attempted to keep her reaction to a minimum, but her mark began to burn as the pulse swept over them. She winced and grabbed her arm with her opposite hand to steady the tremors in her muscles, the light flickering wildly and sparking for a moment.
The three Chantry members froze and regarded her carefully. Cassandra turned away from her peers to face Sha'ael.
"How do you think we should proceed?" She asked the elleth.
Sha'ael blinked. Wha…?
"You asking me?" She asked for clarification. They had all called for her death more than once in the past couple hours, and now they turned to her for guidance? Ugh. Talk about whiplash.
Why the hell not. She inwardly muttered with a mental shrug, glancing from the valley to the mountain. Well, being a rogue meant that she was not the type to run headfirst into a dangerous situation. So she was not eager to go charging into a demon-infested pass with limited space. Scaling the mountain was her preferred option: less likely to run into enemies and it would give them an ample view to observe the temple from above.
She reiterated her reasoning to Cassandra.
Cassandra and Leliana nodded, the Seeker sending the other off to gather the rest of their forces and prepare them for the temple. Walking towards the mountain, Chancellor dickface decided that he needed to have the last word.
"On your head be the consequences, Seeker." He sneered as Cassandra led them from the bridge.
I'm killing him before I go to the noose. Sha'ael decided as they walked past him, curling her lip at the sniveling little man. The elf walked a little faster to catch up to her companions, coming up to walk alongside Cassandra.
"Can I punch him in the face?" She asked the Seeker casually.
Cassandra's steps faltered, but she kept walking. "Perhaps later." She replied with dark humor.
Sha'ael hummed, smiling a little to widely. "I'll wear one of those metal gauntlets that the chevaliers love so much. It will encourage better behavior."
.*.*. ҉, .*.*.
Fighting demons was good cardio. It kept her blood pumping and adrenaline rushing, warming her body despite the chill. But climbing a mountain? In the snow? Sha'ael was suddenly reminded of just how much she despised cold weather.
The rungs of the ladders were covered in thin layers of ice, numbing her fingers unpleasantly and making the climb incredibly slippery. The wind howled in her ears, the pointed tips now burning from frostbite. What she wouldn't give for a hood right now! Ladder after ladder they climbed, while Solas and Varric questioned Cassandra about the missing squadron. Sha'ael could not understand where they even got the energy to speak. Her lips were chapped and her teeth were chattering, neither of which were exactly conducive to conversation.
Don't look down. She told herself, attempting to ignore the heavy winds that were attempting to push her off the ledges. Don't look down. Do NOT look down!
She kept her gaze resolutely fixed forward and at eye-level. Sha'ael did not usually have a problem with heights – she loved the feeling of flying that she got from leaping through tree branches or running across rooftops – but the combination of slippery snow, shivering limbs, and icy wind was not agreeing with her stomach at the moment.
Just don't look down. She chanted to herself. When they finally reached the top of the series of ladders, she saw the opening into the mine and darted for it.
Land! She hurled herself onto the safety of solid rock beneath her feet, rather than the unsteady creaking of who-knows-how-old wooden boards. Oh my love, how I missed thee!
Something growled. Freezing, she glanced up and noticed a shade hovering in the middle of the tunnel.
Oh, it's just a demon. Whew, I thought it would be a bear or something! Was it bad that she was more relieved to see the demon?
"We've got company!" Sha'ael called over her shoulder as she leapt to her feet and withdrew her knives. Through the caverns they went, a regular demon pest control, flushing them out and cutting them down, but never more than three or four at a time. It would seem that the mountain was remote enough that only a few of the demons lingered there. As they approached the exit of the mine, Sha'ael felt her stomach clench at the sight of several human bodies crumpled on the ground, already partially covered by the fast-falling snow.
"Looks like we found that lost patrol." Varric muttered grimly.
Cassandra's eyes swept over the bodies carefully, and then narrowed. "That cannot be all of them…"
Sha'ael seconded her statement. There were only three of them. Most squadrons of any military operation consisted of a group of five or six. Others must have escaped or died elsewhere.
"So the others could be holed up ahead?" Varric asked the Seeker hopefully.
"Or they were eaten." Sha'ael quipped with a shrug. She paused. "Would the demons actually eat human flesh, or do they just suck the soul out of you?"
All three of her companions glared at her, although the dwarf showed a bit more amusement mixed into his horror.
Um... Was that the wrong thing to say? She had a bad habit of being callous in situations that required a bit more tact. Keeper Deshanna had always whacked her in the head with the staff whenever she said stuff like that.
Sha'ael glanced at the snow around them, picking out the barely-hidden path down the mountain. She squinted, searching for footprints. While there was not anything definite, she could see that the path was lumpier than the untouched snow. If there had been footprints before, they were rather mottled now. She followed the trail, however faint that it was. Rounding the bend, she heard that familiar clinking and grinding sounds that seemed to accompany the weird crystals that formed inside a rift. Then she heard the cries of people and the screech of demons. Looks like they found the missing soldiers.
Sha'ael and Cassandra pulled out their blades at the same time, charging forward to aid the men. Solas cast an ice spell at one of the shades nearest the Seeker, and after it had frozen, she bashed into it and shattered it completely. Varric's arrows distracted the demons while Sha'ael slid behind them and stabbed. After the monsters closest to the rift had been dealt with, the elf allowed Cassandra to aid the soldiers while she faced the rift.
I literally have no idea what I'm doing. She thought as she lifted her marked palm skyward. Her arm jerked as magic shot from the rift and connect with her hand. The feeling of a static shock accompanied her bond as she imagined the rift sealing shut.
Shhhhhooooomp!
The rift sucked closed, and Sha'ael dropped her hand with a sigh.
"Sealed, as before." Solas' voice hailed his approach to her side. "You are becoming quite proficient at this."
"I'm a quick learner." She drawled sarcastically, and he lifted an eyebrow at her tone.
"Let's just hope it works on the big one." Varric said as he put away Bianca and walked up to join the elves.
Her gaze slid to look at the dwarf from the corner of her eye, her lips twitching down. "I'd really rather not."
Meanwhile, Cassandra walked over to the three remaining soldiers and help one of them up. It was a female, human of course, and her uniform indicated that she must have been the leader of the squadron.
"Thank the Maker you arrived." The soldier said to Cassandra, gripping a wounded arm to her side.
Cassandra patted the woman's unwounded shoulder and turned to dip her head in the direction of Sha'ael. "Thank our prisoner, Lieutenant. She insisted that we come this way."
SHA-AEL! IT"S TWO SYLLABLES! Sha'ael scowled pointedly at the Seeker.
The lieutenant turned a wondering gaze towards the elven woman, making Sha'ael shift uncomfortably. "The prisoner?"
"Yes, yes, The Prisoner." Sha'ael grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Yes, well, less chitchat, more saving the world, no?"
The lieutenant, much to Sha'ael 's embarrassment, crossed her arm over her chest and bowed formally. "You have my sincere thanks."
Um, why are we bowing? Stop that! Sha'ael grimaced and waved at the woman awkwardly. She noticed Varric smirking at her from the corner of her eye and resisted the urge to glare at him. Cassandra shooed the remainders of the squadron back to the camp, instructing them on how to navigate the mountain. The path down the mountain was cleared of demons, for the moment. They continued onwards at the brisk pace, eager to take advantage of the lack of enemies.
Sha'ael could tell that they were nearing the Breach as they approached the remains of the Conclave, as if she had some sixth-sense connecting her to the giant green hole. The area around it reminded her of a comet's landing, with the sloping ground steep and smooth with melted rock. They carefully maneuvered their way down to the ruined buildings, a few flames still licking the walls and collapsed rooftops.
"The Temple of Sacred Ashes." Solas' voice intoned morbidly as they began to descend into the crater.
"What's left of it." Varric muttered behind her, his voice low and sombre.
Well they certainly got the 'ashes' part correct. Everything here has been blasted to smithereens!
The elf stared in shock around her. There were bodies frozen around them, with discernible expressions of fear and horror. Their skin was darkened, melted and hardened, and they could almost be mistaken for warped looking bronze statues. There were strange crystalline formations jutting up out of the ground at odd intervals, some white, some green, others red.
I… I survived this? Sha'ael stopped next to one of the crouching figures, staring into the empty eye sockets. A shiver ran down her spine, and she was suddenly grateful that she had not eaten in the last several hours.
"The Breach is a long way up..." Varric trailed off as they drew closer to the center point of the blast.
They came upon a balcony overlooking a rift, and above them, the sky was torn and gravity warped as the Breach hovered menacingly. The points of her ears twitched at the sound of crunching gravel behind them, and she turned to see Leliana and her men approach them.
"You're here!" She greeted them. "Thank the Maker."
Cassandra turned to face the redhead. "Leliana, have your men take up positions around the temple."
Leliana nodded and turned to face her men, pointing this way and that as she ordered them to their posts. Meanwhile, the Seeker turned to face Sha'ael.
"This is your chance to end this. Are you ready?"
Sha'ael raised an eyebrow and glanced back up at the Breach. "Sure, let me just sprout some wings and it'll be done in a jiffy."
Cassandra scowled at her, and the woman's hand twitched. She had a feeling that the Seeker was resisting the urge to cuff her.
Solas gestured to a rip in the veil that was hovering closer to the ground. "This rift was the first, and it is the key."
But are you sure of that? Sha'ael stared dubiously at the rift, and then up at the Breach. They were connected, yes, but not by much. This rift was larger than the others they had previously faced, but it was still miniscule when compared to the Breach. It was like plugging a crack in a dam and hoping that it would somehow fix the giant hole that had caused it.
Well, it's not like anyone is pitching any better ideas.
"Let's find a way down." Cassandra spoke. "And be careful."
The group nodded and began following what had once been a hallway. Most of the buildings – what was left of them – were covered in melted rock and debris, interspersed with crystal formations. Very rarely was the actual building visible, usually only a tile or two beneath the rubble. It was hard to imagine these ruins as the glorious temple that she had been spying in just the previous day.
"Now is the hour of our victory."
Everyone stumbled and gasped as a deep voice boomed through the air. Sha'ael stopped and glanced around sharply, looking for its source.
"Bring forth the sacrifice."
The voice was ominous – more than ominous. It was the most evil voice she had ever heard in her lifetime, threatening and dark, straight out of a child's nightmare. It made her instincts scream at her to run.
Strange voices are never a good sign.
"Tell me I wasn't the only one hearing that." Varric said nervously, glancing around them in paranoia.
"You weren't the only one hearing that." Sha'ael responded, although the humor in her words were tinged with the same nervousness that the dwarf displayed.
Cassandra had already half-drawn her sword at the strange voice, her shoulders tense. "What are we hearing?"
"At a guess?" Solas responded, "The person who created the Breach."
Sha'ael turned around to glance at the Seeker with a half-hearted grin. "See? Wasn't me!"
Cassandra scowled at her and roughly pushed her shoulder to force Sha'ael to continue walking forward.
The air faded into silence once more as they rounded another bend. Sha'ael paused when she saw giant red crystals lining the walls, pulsating with a dark energy. The glow they emitted looked like fire had been trapped beneath their glassy surfaces. Varric and Cassandra began hissing about 'red lyrium' – she guessed that meant the strange red rocks that glowed like lava in crystal form. Sha'ael mentally filed it under the category of 'Very Bad, Do Not Touch'.
It all had to be related to the Breach. Obviously, none of that had existed in the temple before the explosion. Then again, there were a lot of things that had not been in the temple before and now were: rifts, corpses, strange evil crystals, evil voices thundering overhead… Every time she thought things couldn't get any weirder, reality seemed to scream 'Challenge Accepted!'.
The Evanuris, the Maker, Lady Luck – whatever god was out there – needed to calm the fuck down, 'cause shit was getting ridiculous.
"Magic could have drawn on the lyrium beneath the temple; corrupted it." Solas theorized as the lyrium crystal grew larger with each step, some of them taller than a man. The mage glanced at the glowing rocks with a wary but clinical interest.
"It's evil." Varric said unnecessarily. "Whatever you do, don't touch it."
Very Bad, Do Not Touch. Sha'ael reiterated to herself, nodding along with the dwarf. They continued down a crumbling set of stair, getting closer to the bottom level where the rift was.
"Keep the sacrifice still."
That doesn't sound good. She thought as she hesitantly continued to make her way down into the center of the ruins. Please tell me the sacrifice is a goat or something.
And then there was another voice: "Someone - help me!"
It just had to be human sacrifice, didn't it? Why is it always human sacrifice?
It was Orlesian in accent. Sha'ael could have sworn that she had heard it before. But the voice seemed to be echoing from somewhere far away, and though she strained her ears, her identification of the voice slipped away.
"What's going on here?!"
By the gods, that was her voice! Aw man, that meant she was far more involved than she had thought. Which meant more responsibility. And more yelling Cassandra.
"That was your voice…" Cue Cassandra.
The Seeker gasped, staring up at the sky as if to see the ghostly owners of the voices. "Most Holy called out to you, but –"
As if on cue, the rift pulsated, and smoke rose up from it, congealing into shapes. The shapes took the form of a memory: A dark figure with glowing red eyes standing before the helpless form of Divine Justinia as she was held aloft by magic.
"What's going on here?!" Her own voice demanded, and a third character ran into the room, drawing her blades and glaring at the shadowy figure.
Sha'ael stared at this memory of herself, where her hair was pulled neatly into a braid, bangs swept out of her eyes, glaring up at her foe as she gripped a familiar set of daggers. Why don't I remember any of this?!
"Run while you can! Warn them!" The memory of Justinia cried out to her.
The evil shadow turned sharply to glare at her image, and Sha'ael watched herself as she gulped and tightened her grip on her knives.
"We have an intruder!" The evil… thing… growled lowly. "Slay the elf!"
And then the memory seemed to implode as the rift gave another pulse, shattering the trance that it had cast on everyone around them.
Cassandra rounded on Sha'ael with a stormy expression, obviously thinking that she had lied to her earlier. "So you were there –"
"I don't know anything, I don't know anything, I don't know anything!" She interrupted the Seeker before she could go on some righteous tangent. Sha'ael jerked away before Cassandra had a chance to grab her by the collar and made a motion of knocking on her head. "Amnesia, remember? No memories! Nada!"
Cassandra's expression turned dark and she opened her mouth to lash out again when Solas spoke, interrupting them. "Echoes of what happened here. The Fade bleeds into this place." The apostate explained, and then turned to face all of them. "This rift is only closed temporarily. I believe that with the mark, the rift can be opened, and then sealed properly. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side."
Great, now we're going to open it. Sha'ael scowled as she approached the floating crystal-thing, Cassandra and Leliana readying their soldiers. Anyone else think that this is a bad idea? No? Just me?
The mark on her hand pulsated, and she held it up to the rift. A jolt of energy shot through her as the rift connected to the mark.
Um… open sesame?
The rift gave a small explosion as it yawned open. For a brief second, Sha'ael glimpsed into the Fade, floating rocks and spirits wandering the skies. And then something leapt out at them, exiting the rift and landing in the physical realm.
"Rrrraaaaaarr!" The demon bared its rows of teeth as it stretched and took form.
Aw, fuck me. Sha'ael stared at it as the soldiers rushed forwards. Pride.
Three times as tall as a man and just as wide, the creature laughed derisively at the humans that charged it. Sweeping its mighty arm, it knocked a couple of them away easily. Sha'ael snapped to attention as the rift pulsed again, and shades began to appear.
She drew her daggers and joined the fight, carefully avoiding the demons' notice as she snuck up behind them while they were engaged with a warrior. Each time the immediate area around the rift cleared, she rushed back and attempted to close it. This rift was taking a lot more tries than the others, unfortunately, drawing the battle out longer than she would have liked. Sha'ael was forced to take more hits than she was used to, often distracted by the rift as she attempted to seal it when a demon would sneak up and swipe its claws at her.
Finally, Cassandra and the soldiers seemed to stun the great Pride monster, giving Sha'ael her opening to seal the rift. She leapt forward, arm extended, the mark connecting with the rift before she had even landed on her feet.
"Do it!" She heard Cassandra cry in encouragement. But this rift seemed to be resisting her mark, stubbornly pulsating with magic that she struggled to keep under her control. It felt like trying to hold water in her hands and not letting anything drip between her fingers.
Close, dammit! She thought, somehow willing the rift to seal shut.
And it did.
It sucked shut, imploding, and then sending a blast of magic skyward and into the Breach. Relief swept through her and Sha'ael heaved a great sigh. When the ball of magic collided with the center of the Breach, it exploded with a deafening crack! and lit the sky with light until it blinded everyone.
The Breach pulsed, harder than it ever had before, and the last thing she remembered was her mark sparking and burning wildly.
Darkness engulfed her.
.*.*. ҉ .*.*.
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