Chapter 5: Haven
She should have known better than uttering those words. She had most assuredly jinxed herself in the worst of ways. The path to the Temple of Sacred Ashes, or what remained of it, was riddled with demons and rifts determined to destroy everything and everyone in their path. She could hardly fathom how these spirits were tainted so quickly, for they all could not have been demons to begin with. So much senseless death on both sides.
For some reason she could not fathom, Hariel had been given the choice in how to proceed to the Temple. Disliking the thought of sneaking around through the mines, she had chosen to go through with the soldiers in a direct path to the first rift.
The welcome had not been particularly welcoming, nor the battle that ensued whilst they attempted to close the Breach. Her Potter luck truly showed when they were faced with not only a small hoard of wraiths and horrors, but a bloody Pride demon as well.
It was little surprise that she passed out after trying to close the Breach.
This time around, waking up had been worse than the first (she had woken up in a damp dungeon). At least she felt somewhat warm, and there had been an attempt of comfort in the form of a cabin room and hay stuffed mattress.
With a soft groan, Hariel pushed her magic slightly outwards to sense her surroundings without opening her eyes. The Cabin was empty, but there were plenty of people outside of it and a few directly outside the door. Knowing she couldn't continue to pretend to be unconscious for much longer, she decided to officially awaken to this new and somewhat barbaric world.
As she opened them, and attempted to sit up, an elf that must have been attending to her whilst she was asleep, walked in the room with a basket filled with healing herbs.
The elf was also horribly startled easily.
"Oh! You-you're awake! I swear I had no idea!" the she-elf rambled.
Her groveling was beginning to irritate Hariel, "It's fine, I just woke up." She tried to reassure, but she must have sounded harsher than she meant to as the groveling got to the point where the she-elf was literally bowing on the floor. The undeniably cold and unforgiving stone…and she readily groveled into it. 'This does not bode well for me if this is her reaction. I can only guess how other people will react.'
"Enough, stand up." She tried, "There is no reason for you to be on the floor."
"Forgive me, your grace." Merlin's saggy—no, she did not just call me that. "Lady Cassandra wished to know immediately when you awoke and wishes to see you in the Chantry."
"Lady- wait the Cha-?" the she-elf fled before she could even finish her sentence. "Where the bloody hell is the Chantry?" she finally grounded out utterly annoyed.
Trying to center herself and settle her annoyance at the entirety of the situation, Hariel searched the room for more suitable clothes and found the cheap leather set left for her wanting.
'These are pitiful…Where are my clothes?' she wondered and hastily transfigured the clothes into something that wouldn't allow the cold cling to her skin the way the leather would.
Once she was changed into the newly transfigured clothes, Hariel idly searched the cabin for more information and found a small journal on the desk not far from her cot.
Skimming through the entries, she learned that it had been two days since their assault on the Breach in the ruins of the Conclave. Adan, the man who wrote the entries, had been her main caretaker aside from "the elf" whom she concluded was Solas. There was a fair bit of relief to see that Solas had taken care of her and not abandoned her to these people. As much as she had learned about Thedas, she felt wholly unprepared for being physically in it. From what she had observed (which, granted, was not much) they seemed to be particularly behind in both technologically and culturally considering they didn't even have toilets or showers and abided by slavery and the caste system. The Monarchy system was a whole other can of worms she had no desire to deal with but was now forced to.
All in all, this world was barbaric compared to the one she left.
With a soft sigh, Hariel knew she needed to leave this cabin at some point and head toward the Chantry. Honestly, it shouldn't be too hard to find, as she had seen through Wisdom that the Chantry (much like the Catholic Church in her world) enjoyed making sure all knew which was the house of God. It always had to be the largest, gawdiest, most senseless waste of materials to make all who entered feel lacking in something and thus gravitate toward the building in hopes of filling that insecurity. Not to say it didn't help people, she merely knew there were ways to do so without spending an abhorrent amount of money on aesthetic.
The moment she stepped out of the Cabin, she wanted to apparate to any other location despite the high chances of splinching herself. There was a literal wall of soldiers keeping her walkway clear of the citizens of town from crowding her. Which they actually tried to do; she could see that there were a large number of people who tried to push past the group of soldiers to get to her.
"There she is! The Herald of Andraste!"
"She has the power to heal the sky."
"Sent by the Maker himself to save us!"
"She's smaller than I imagined..."
"-eard she was supposed to close the Breach."
She felt herself internally rage at every comment she was able to hear clearly in the clamor of voices around her. The Herald? Sent by the Maker?! As soon as she met with the Seeker she was getting out of this insanity. She was most certainly not going to be anyone's savior let alone the entirety of another world and the Fade as they were connected. She would rather help burn this place to the ground than become its bloody savior.
By the time that she made it to the Chantry, her anger was boiling inside her viciously.
There were voices coming through the large wooden doors and it took all her considerably large self- control to quell her anger and ease the emotions off her face. When she opened the doors, she was met with the Lady Seeker, the red-head Leliana, and the Chantry Man she had met at the Forward Camp that wanted to arrest her on sight.
"Chain her!" yes, he clearly had his priorities set, "I want her prepared for travel to the capital for trial."
The guards he addressed didn't bother to move thankfully.
"Disregard that order and leave us." The Lady Seeker commanded, and unlike the Chantry fellow, her orders were obeyed.
"You walk a dangerous line, Seeker."
"The Breach is stable, but it is still a threat." Cassandra said firmly, "I will not ignore it."
Walking toward the rounded table, Hariel crossed her arms, "You want my help again." It was not a question and she could see the firm nods of both Cassandra and Leliana.
"You are still a suspect!" Rodrick! That was his name, a "glorified clerk" according to Cassandra.
"No. She is not." Much like the Chancelor, Hariel was equally surprised. She had pegged them to be equivalent to the Wizarding world in hoping for an easy scapegoat. She had the "mark" that could easily be considered proof to her supposed guilt.
Leliana moved toward the pair, "Someone was behind the explosion at the Conclave. Someone Most Holy did not expect. Perhaps they died with the others—or have allies who yet live."
Hariel had to give the woman a bit of credit. She remained completely calm and emotionless, yet her accusation was clear to all those in the room as she stared at the Chancelor.
"I am a suspect?!" The man sounded beyond wounded and offended.
"You and many others."
"But not the prisoner?" he was very offended.
"I head the voices in the Temple. The Divine called to her for help." The Seeker stated as though it answered everything.
"So her survival. That thing on her hand, all a coincidence?" She had to agree with the Chancelor for some part of it. It was a huge coincidence that the moment the Breach opened she was sucked into Fears domain. It was too much of a coincidence that the woman who actually held the Mark, who the Most Holy actually called out to, resembled her enough in voice and features to be able to play as her.
It was far too much of a coincidence.
"Providence. The Maker sent her to us in our darkest hour." Hariel narrowed her eyes at the Seeker. She would go with a huge coincidence rather than believe a God had any hand in her being there.
"Five minutes ago you wanted me dead, and now I'm your savior?" she demanded harshly.
"I was wrong." The Seeker actually sounded somewhat repentant. "Perhaps I still am. I will, however, not pretend that you were not what we needed when we needed it."
"The Breach remains, and your mark is still our only hope of closing it." Leliana added on.
"That is NOT your decision to decide." Rodrick seemed determined to be a part of the decision planning.
In annoyance, Cassandra moved to the side and brought a heavy tome and slammed it on the table with a loud thud. "Do you know what this is?" she asked rhetorically as she pointed at the tome, "A writ from the Divine, granting us the authority to act. As of this moment, I declare the Inquisition reborn. We will close the Breach, we will find those responsible and we will restore order. With, or without your approval."
At this, the Chancelor walked out the door with his head held high and nose lifted into the air with a huff. Hariel narrowed her eyes at the man as he brushed past her, and knew without a doubt he would do everything in his power to cause problems for her.
"This is the Divine's directive." Leliana started as she moved towards Cassandra, "Rebuild the Inquisition of old. Find those who will stand against the Chaos. We aren't ready. We have no leader, no numbers, and now no Chantry support."
"But we have no choice, we must act now, with you by our side." Both of them turned to look at Hariel and she wanted nothing more than to apparate away from them.
"What is the Inquisition of old, exactly?" Hariel asked, "I've heard of Inquisitions before and they have never been about restoring order." She remembered the history lessons she took out of boredom at some universities. The term Inquisition wasn't exactly a synonym for benign acts.
"It preceded the Chantry. People who banded together to restore order in a world gone mad." Leliana stated somewhat vaguely.
"After, they laid down their banner and formed the Templar Order, but the Templars have lost their way."
"The Inquisition became the Templars?" she asked for clarification and received a nod, "That is not exactly a point in your favor you realize. Even from it's infancy the Templars have gone against magic—which, if you failed to realize, I most certainly possess."
"Your magic will not be a problem." Leliana tried to reassure, "Many mages survived the Conclave and remain to assist in any way they can."
Hariel narrowed her eyes at them, "That may be so, but aren't you still a part of the Chantry? What with the Inquisition being brought because the Divine wrote that huge book."
Cassandra actually snorted, "Is that what you see?"
"The Chantry will take time to find a new Divine, and then it will wait for her direction." Leliana explained. Honestly, that didn't come as a surprise to her but she would have hoped given the threat of the apocalypse there would be more reaction to the whole situation rather than politicking and power grabs.
"But we cannot wait. So many Gland Clerics died at the Conclave… No, we are on our own. Perhaps forever." Hariel could hear the soft sorrow in her voice. Given that she was a Seeker, the lack of Chantry support must have hurt her personally.
In all honesty, Hariel had no desire to stay with this Inquisition. They were pitiful in terms of a group seeking order. They truly were alone and annoyingly, the only ones thus far that wanted to do all they could to seal the Breach. The Breach which threatened not only the world she found herself in but the Fade itself. The Fade where so many of the spirits she had come to know over the unexplainable amount of time she spent within it were threatened. So many of whom may already have been sucked into the physical realm to be tainted and corrupted. Who were already lost and in fear of the possibility.
She cared nothing for Thedas itself. Not truly. Humans were mostly arrogant slobs who clung to anything that would help them lord over others in their supposed superiority. The Dwarves were happy to remain in their Thaigs away from the problems of the surface in isolation. The Elves were so lost in their desperation to cling to what they thought they knew of their past, and the Qunari were brash and vicious in their attempts to convert all to the Qun.
No, she cared nothing for the inhabitants of Thedas save for a few and the Nature of the world itself.
But she couldn't very well allow the monstrosity of the Breach to remain.
"We'll see how this goes." She finally conceded after some time.
"That is all we ask." Leliana sounded extremely relieved and hopeful. It made her stomach turn.
"Let us fix this, before it is too late." Cassandra held her hand out to Hariel. She looked at it for a moment before shaking the offered hand.
She knew, from the deepest part of her soul, that she would come to heavily regret joining this Inquisition; but what else was she to do?