I'm surprised that I even managed to get this chapter done. All with the hurricane Matthew, my two year old daughter and my new job it's been quite hectic. Reviews are appriciated but not demanded. Its been a while since I had a story to maintain with any sort of regularity. The last time was when I was still in high school. Anyway, enough of my ramblings lets get on with the story and disclaimers shall we?
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Vivaine and her chaos. Everything else is owned by Bioware.
Chapter 2
I woke up several times before I could wake up and remain that way. Intense pain was the main focal point each time I regained conciousness. I swore that I was hallucenating several times because I saw elves and my right hand was a sickly glowing green, along with being the main source of my pain. My body ached in general. I believe I seized a couple of times causing the people that were tendinng to me to burst into a flurry of paniced movement each time. I had no idea how long I spent like that, inbetween being awake and unconcious. With no idea how long it had been I finally woke up.
I made an attempt to rub the sleep crust from my eyes, however my hands being shackled together prevented that from actually happening. What the hell? Why are my arms bound in these medival style handcuffs? Whipping my head around I realized that I was in a dungeon like one you would see in one of those fantasy movies. It was dark, deriry and of couse oh so very cold. On top of that, there were the people in what looked like proffessionally done solider cosplayers, pointing what looked to be very real, and very sharp swords at me as though I would jump up and attack them at any moment. At least I was still dressed in my own clothes and not the weird cosplay shit that they were wearing.
I gave an experimental tug of the chains around my wrists to see if there was any kind of give to them. There was not unfortunately. Sighing, I slumped back onto the floor. There was not even enough slack in the chains for me to shift into a more comfortable position on the cold stone floor of the dungeon let alone stand up. Not quite sure how long I just sat there quietly, only that every so often the glowing green mark on my hand flared up painfully. Each time hurting more then the last as though some kind of painkiller was wearing off or it was getting worse.
SHortly after a particularlly painful flare up the heavy looking door to the dimly lit dungeon I was in banged open loudly. Two tall women, completel opposites in appearance, stomped in. Well only one of them stompped, the other one walked in like nothing strange was going on. The stomping one was wearing a metal breastplate and purple pants made of some kind of material that I could not place. The other one wore a purple tunic and pants with a chainmail over shirt, along with a deep purple hood. At least they have decent taste in colors. The stompy lady was circling around me as though she saw me as a threat of some kind. The lady in chainmail stayed back and simply watched. Hmm... good cop, and bad cop I am guessing.
Leaning over my left shoulder, Madam Stompy spoke, "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now. The conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead." She slowly stalked around to face my front. "Except for you."
"What Conclave? What are you even talking about?! Whatever you think I did I swear I didn't do it!" I shot out in confused denial.
Madam Stompy roughly grabbed the hand that held the odd glowing green mark, "If you didn't do it, explain this!"
"I can't. I have no idea how it got there." I insisted. This is not good. Not good at all.
"What do you mean you can't?"
"I don't know what it is! I told you I don't know how it got there."
"You're lying!" Madam Stompy exclaimed as she aggresively grabbed at me.
Oh shit nuggets, this just got real. She is going to kill me. Before anything else could happen the Lady-in-purple grabbed and pulled Madam Stompy away from me. Lady-in-purple got some serious brownie points in my book for that move. Madam Stompy; bad cop. Lady-in-purple; good cop.
"We need her Cassandra." the Lady-in-purple told, the now named, Cassandra.
'Need me for what exactly?' I wondered. God this is so damn confusing,
"It would help if someone were to actually explain what is going on!" I demanded. I was pretty sure that I was in some kind of coma induced dream at that point. Who would not think that after waking up from being electrocuted to death. Am I right?
"We will explain things in time. Do you remember what happened? How this began?" the Lady-in-purple calmlyasked me.
"Umm... I vaguely remember running away. Running from these giant spider like things, and then a strange glowing green woman." I said uncertainly.
"A woman?"
"She reached out to me if I remember correctly, but then ... I'm sorry I don't remember anything else." I added; read partially lied, hoping the bought it.
Cassandra stepped towardsthe Lady-in-purpletp speak to her I am guessing, not realizing that I could hear them, "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the Rift." What Rift, and why is she going to take me there? It does not seem like a place that I particularly want to be. I shifted nervously against my chain shackles. Cassandra walked over to me before kneeling in front of me to unlock my shackles.
"It would be best if I tied your wrists together with this strap. The people of haven blame you for what happened. I will properly inbind you once we get to the bridge." Cassandra stated as she carefully tied my wrists together with a simple leather strap.
"What did happen, do you know?" I asked in morbid curiousity. I am playing along with these crazy ass cosplayersbecause I am pretty sure that if I tried anything that they did not like they would run me through with one of their shoiny pointy, and sharp swords in a heart beat.
Cassandra pulled me to my feet before speaking," It will be easier to just show you."
What if I do not want to see it you crazy person in cosplay that vaguely reminded me of what one would wear in the Dragon Age games.' I thought to myself. We walked through a long stone hallway, up some stairs, to a room that looked an aweful lot like some kind of church or something. 'Why does a church have a dungeon for a basement?' I wondered.
Cassandra and I kept on walking until we reached the door that lead was bloody cold and snowing out there. I started to shiver from the ammount of cold I have had to endure despite my fleece sweater and scarf. Looking around myself I noticed a lot of people staring at us. Then I looked up at the sky, it had a freaky glowing green hole that reminded me of the mark on my right hand. Holy shit nuggets! Did I come out of there?
"We call it 'the Breach.' It's a massive Rift into the world of Demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such Rift. Jusst the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave." Cassandra explained as she paced back and for in front of me.
"Hold on a second, an explosion can do that?" I asked slightly fearfully. This was crazy, I am no longer dreaming or hallucenating this, I cannot make shit like this up. As the saying goes, 'Truth is stranger that fiction'.
"This one did. Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world." Cassandra said.
As soon as she said that the hole in the sky pulsed angrily at the same time as the mark on my right hand. Pain shot up my right arm from my hand so intense that I screwed my eyes shut and fell to my knees with a pained yell. Taking deep, even breaths I was able to make it through the wave of pain without screaming my lungs out. All that is holy shit farts, that hurt.
"Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads... and it is killing you." Cassandra knelt before me on the ground, " It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn't muh time."
"The key to doing what exactly?" I said through clentched teeth.
"Closing the Breach. WHether that's possible is something we shall discover shortly."
Oh hell no lady! I am NOT going anywhere near that giant hole in the sky if I can help it. Not unless I have no other choice. However based off of the look she is giving me I have no other choice.
"It is our only chance however. And yours."
Well shit, this just keeps on getting better and better. Please note the sarcasm as I think this.
"YOu think I would do this? To myself? Lady you're crazier than I originally thought you were. And that's saying something."
"Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong." Cassandra openly admitted.
"WHat if I'm not responsible for this mess?" I asked.
"SOmeone is, and you are our only suspect. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way."
"Well since you put it that way, what can I do to be of service to you?" I quipped.
Cassandra reaches over and helps me to stand up. However she keeps her hand firmly on my back, guiding me through the streets of the little quaint hamlet covered in snow. EVeryone in the town that were outside stared, well more along the lines of glaring really, at me as Cassandra and I passed through. I shifted so that I was walking as close as I could to her without coming across as being creepy.
She must have noticed, "They have decided your guilt. They need it. THe people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, Head of the CHantry. The Conclave hers. It was a chance for peace between Mages and Templars."
Wait a moment. Did she just say 'CHantry' and 'Mages and Templars'? That is in the Dragon Age series. I stumbled briefly in shock. Cassandra helped to steady me and kept me going as I was lost in my thoughts. I am dreaming, I have to be dreaming. There is no way for something like this to even be possible. I pinched myself as discretely as I could manage. Nope, not dreaming or hallucinating because that hurt and this is too vivid to be anything other than one hundred percent real. Much to my dismay. How the hell did this even happen? All of my memories after getting electrocuted to 'death' were either missing or just too fuzzy and unreliable to be of much use to me. Damn I have got to be careful so that these people do not find out that I am from another reality/world.
"... bought their leaders together. Now they are dead." Cassandra was saying as I tuned back in as we walked through a set of gates, "We lash out like the sky. But we must think beyond ourselves. As she did. Until the Breach is sealed."
As we walked out a ways onto the bridge, Cassandra motioned for me to stop. She then untied my wrists. I rubbed both of them with my hands to get the blood flowing again. Those bindings had been tied rather tight.
"There will be a trial. I can promise no more."
"It's more than what I expected to be done for me. Thank you."
Cassandra nodded her head in acknowledgement as she said, "Come. It is not that far."
"Where are you taking me exactly? It'd be nice to know."
"Your mark must be tested on something smaller then the Breach."
"Makes sense I suppose..."
I motioned for Cassandra to lead the way. I had no idea where we were suppose to be heading. She took the lead as we walked across the bridge. Once we got to the other side of it, Cassandra called out to the guards, "Open the gate! We are heading into the valley!"
Walking through the gate, I spotted some wooden spiked barricades along an inclined dirt pathway. Cassandra started jogging at a moderate pace for someone of her size, forcing me into a half-run because I was so much shorter then she was. Now that I think about it, most of the people, if not all of them, that I have seen so far have been quite a bit taller than me. We passed by an overturned wagon that had two soldiers hunkered down behind it with their weapons out. Turning to look ahead I saw three more soldiers come running down the dirt pathway with panicked expressions upon their faces. Oh, that cannot be good.
"Maker! It's the end of the world!" one of them yelled as he ran past.
What the hell is Cassandra doing taking me into a place that is sending harden soldiers running away in fear of their lives? This whole situation is just down right crazy. I am seriously doubting Cassandra and my sanity at the moment. I saw another couple of carts that were destroyed and on fucking fire farther up the pathway. I really do not want to be anywhere near whatever caused those soldiers to go running for their lives. As we; Cassandra jogged, I half-ran; went down the pathway a bit farther, there were more carts that were destroyed and burning. Not long after passing the last of the burning carts the Breach in the sky pulsed and expanded causing the mark on my right hand to do the same with intense pain to go with. I collapsed to the ground from the pain. Cassandra helped me to stand up once more with a serious expression upon her face.
Making sure I was okay, Cassandra spoke," The pulses are coming faster now."
"Yeah, I noticed lady. It's kinda hard not to." Rubbing my arm I started walking again, following the dirt and snow covered pathway.
"The larger the Breach grows, the more Rifts appear, the more demons we face." Cassandra added as we jogged towards yet another gated bridge.
"How did you find me? I image it wasn't easy."
"They said you ... stepped out of a Rift, then fell unconscious. They say a woman was in the Rift behind you. No one knows who she was. Everything farther in the valley as laid to waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes."
I kept moving across the bridge as I listened to Cassandra speak. When I was about halfway across the Breach pulsed once ad sent a ball of flaming green directly at the center of the bridge forcing me to jump backwards into Cassandra. Once the flaming green ball struck the bridge it collapsed sending her and I tumbling down. I of course hit every single rack on the way down. Finally hitting the frozen over pond I groaned in pain. Looking up at the sky I noticed a second green fire ball heading towards us again. Well fuck me sideways. It impacted a ways from Cassandra and I, leaving behind puddles of green goop. The farthest puddle of green goop started to come together into a solid form that was way to fucked up to be human. It was grey, hunched over, with no discernible face, and some wickedly sharp looking claws. Cassandra promptly drew her sword and shield and the charged the strange, demonic looking creature. As I stood up there as bubbling from the closest of puddle of green goop. Great another grey goop beast. Looking around for something to fight with or a way to escape which ever was most available, I spotted some crates that had fallen with us. One had broken to reveal a bow and a quiver of arrows. I bolted straight for them just as the green goop turn grey and began rising up into its beast form.
I quickly strapped on the quiver to my back and thanked every divine being out there that I was the vice captain of my college's archery team. Pulling an arrow out of the quiver I notched it on my bow and pulled, ready to fire at the beast as soon as it solidified enough that the arrow would actually hurt the damn thing. A moment later I fired it.
Not that's a proper chapter. It took a while to crank this baby out. I hoped you enjoyed it and please review! I cannot promise weekly updates but I'll try to get at least one chapter every two weeks or so.
