The woman… Divine Justinia… smiled at her, inclining her head a little, and for a moment, she forgot to breathe in shock, and she swallowed before speaking, "From the little I remember of what happened at Haven, I thought you were dead."

Alistair's eyes narrowed as he looked over at her, "I don't recall the Divine glowing. In my experience, that's something spirits do."

But Justinia simply smiled enigmatically at them, "You think my survival impossible, yet here you stand alive in the Fade yourselves. In truth, proving my existence either way would require time we do not have."

Hawke crossed her arms and scowled suspiciously at her, "Really? How hard is it to answer one question? I'm human and you are…?"

"I am here to help you." Justinia said simply, before looking at Alex. "You do not remember what happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, Inquisitor."

Alex's eyebrow rose, "The real Divine would have no way of knowing that I'd been made Inquisitor."

"I know because I have examined memories like yours, stolen by the demon that serves Corypheus." Justinia said, "It is the Nightmare you forget upon waking. It feeds off memories of fear and darkness, growing fat upon the terror. The false Calling that terrified the Wardens into making such grave mistakes? Its work."

Alistair growled, "I'd like to have a few words with this Nightmare about that."

"You will have your chance, brave Warden." Justinia nodded at him, "This place of darkness is it's lair."

Alex looked at Justinia, "Corypheus seems to have a lot of demons at his disposal. How does he command so many?"

But Justinia shook her head, "I know not how he commands his army of demons. His power may come from the Blight itself. But the Nightmare serves willingly, for Corypheus has brought much terror into this world. He was one of the magisters who unleashed the First Blight upon the world, was he not? Every child's cry as the Archdemon circles, every dwarf's whimper in the Deep Roads… the Nightmare has fed well."

Alex blinked, "The big demon Erimond was trying to bring through?"

"Yes." Justinia said simply.

"It's nearby?"

"Yes."

"Well… shit."

Her companions let out huffs of laughter at her unexpected expletive, and Varric nodded in agreement. "What she said."

Justinia smiled in understanding, "When you entered the Fade at Haven, the demon took a part of you. Before you do anything else, you must recover it." She pointed to her right, and as Alex looked, spirits took form and drifted through the area, "These are your memories, Inquisitor."

Alex looked at the drifting spirits, and seeing as they were not yet aggressive, she turned to the Divine, "You must know what really happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes."

"As must you." Justinia said, "The answer lies in your memories, lost to the Nightmare when you last walked the Fade."

Alex shrugged, "Or you could just tell me?"

But the Divine merely smiled enigmatically again, "Would you trust my words? Trust what you have seen."

She silenced for a bit, before raising her left hand to the Divine, "What can you tell me about this mark on my hand?"

"Recover your memories to learn how the mark came to be upon your hand. As for what it is…"
At this, Justinia seemed to shrug, "It is the needle that pulls the thread, as well as the key."

Alex looked at the Divine blankly, "I don't understand."

"It is the needle that passes through the Veil, as little else can. You are the thread. And it is the key that locks or unlocks a door to the Fade. It lets you walk in the Fade physically and survive. Without it, Corypheus must find another way into the Black City. It is part of you now, and cannot be removed without your death."

Alex looked down at her hand and closed it into a fist, before looking up at Justinia again, "So can you tell me who… what you are?"

"I told you. I am helping you."

"Yes, but are you her, or some kind of Fade-remnant of her, or a spirit imitating her?"

"Our world is never that simple." Justinia said, "What if the answer is none of those things? Or all of them? I am what the Maker made me. The question is: are you what the Maker made you, Inquisitor?"

She blinked hard at the Divine's question, before saying, "If I was chosen, I just don't understand why. Why me? Why this?"

Justinia's face softened into a look of comfort, "You are not the first to ask such questions. Did Andraste not question when the Maker charged her with an impossible task? Did she not feel unworthy? Her questions did not lessen her heroism."

She huffed out a breath, "So now I'm a hero?"

"Not yet. Perhaps not ever. The choice will be yours."

"You still haven't answered my question." Alex said, "What are you?"

Justinia smiled and spread her hands, "I am what you see. All other answers rest in you."

"Right…" Alex said, still a little confused. "Tell me why you're here then. Why take part in this?"

"After Haven, I hid here." Justinia was saying, gesturing at the area, "I watched quietly, learned what I could, and search for some way to help. And then you came."

Alex's brows furrowed, "I… don't know what that means."

"Corypheus and the Nightmare do an injustice to the world. You must stop them. Perhaps you were meant to stop them. Perhaps that is why I am here."

"I'd like to know more about the Nightmare."

"It is not simply fear. It is the terror you cannot remember, the horror your mind erases to protect you. When old memories no longer make the veteran soldier's hand tremble, it is because the Nightmare has taken it. Most people avoid their fears. It is simple for the demon to steal the darkest fragments. They forget, and it feeds. Corypheus has helped it grow monstrous."

She blinked, looking at Cole a little, as the Nightmare's operation reminded her of how Cole would cause the people he helped forget him. "It makes people forget the worst parts of their fears? It almost sounds like the Nightmare is helping people."

"Perhaps it was, once." Justinia said, looking at Cole as she did, "But now it helps none but Corypheus. By his hand, it creates more fear and grows even stronger. In any case, robbing people of their fears is never a kindness. At best, it is a mistake borne of compassion. Without pain, and fear, and failure, we cannot learn. We cannot grow. As you cannot grow until you recover all that was taken from you."

Cole seemed to have ducked his head, covering his face and obscuring the Divine from his view, and for a moment Alex silenced before looking at Justinia again, "So all of this is just a dream? Part of the Fade?"

The Divine smiled enigmatically again, and Alex felt a little annoyed, "It is not 'just' a dream. The minds of mankind are made real here. Their hopes, their loves, and their fears. What changes their world also changes this one, and yours are footsteps that move mountains in both. Tread carefully, Inquisitor. This ground is more treacherous than you know."

Alex nodded at her, before turning around and looking at the spirits that floated around. "Alright… let's get my memories back." She turned to look at her companions, "Can you help?"

Alistair nodded as he withdrew his blade, "If it'll help us understand more about that's going on here, then I'll assist you." And Cole, Blackwall, Varric and Hawke all unsheathed their weapons.

They attacked the 'spirits' in the area, and soon floating green orbs hung in the air upon their deaths. Hawke tried to grab the orb, but it merely hung on the palm of her hand like a cloud. "This is so strange. "She said as she neared Alex, with Cole, Alistair and Varric bringing her of the orbs. "It's like it knows that they're not meant for us… like it knows that they belong to you."

"Maybe. They are my memories, after all." Alex said as she looked at them, "But how am I supposed to... should I use the mark?"

Varric shrugged, and she inhaled as she raised her hands at the orbs, the power of the Anchor flaring. Warmth spread through the tips of her hand, through her arm and up her chest, and into her head. She cried out a little in pain as she closed her eyes.

And then she saw.

A scene was unraveling before her, and then she remembered that it was in the Temple of Sacred Ashes. She blinked when she saw a group of Grey Wardens, using their magic to hold Justinia up in the air with her arms spread to her sides, ad she panted in fatigue.

"Now is the hour of our victory." She heard someone saw, and she looked up, seeing the towering figure of Corypheus, holding the orb he used in Haven… the 'foci' as Solas told her once.

Justinia looked at the Wardens in panic, "Why are you doing this? You of all people?"

"Keep the sacrifice still." Corypheus spoke again, holding the orb aloft in front of Justinia, and soon, green light seemed to flow from her into the orb, as if it was draining the power out of her. It must have caused her great pain, as she shouted, "Someone, help me!"

Alex blinked when the doors opened, and she saw herself, looking at the events in front of her, "What's going on here?!" she had shouted, causing the Wardens and Corypheus to look at her.

The magister's distraction proved his undoing as Justinia moved, swatting his hand and making the orb roll towards Alex. She blinked when she saw her other self move, catching the orb and holding it in her left hand, causing it to glow eerily, and she grimaced in pain as the green light enveloped her. Corypheus' eyes widened in surprise and anger, before he growled and charged at her, and the room exploded in a flash of green light.

She opened her eyes with a gasp, just as her companions straightened, as it seemed like seeing her memories affected them as well. Alistair's face held a look of shock as he spoke, "So that mark on your hand…it wasn't sent by Andraste. It came from that orb Corypheus was using."

Justinia appeared near them, "Corypheus intended to rip open the Veil, use the Anchor to enter the Fade, and throw open the doors of the Black City. Not for the Old Gods, but for himself. When you disrupted his plan, the orb bestowed the Anchor upon you instead."

Alex's confused look turned into a look of anger as she glared at the Divine, "So this was, what, an accident? A random ricochet in the middle of a fight?!"

"And if it was…"

"If it was, then neither the Maker of Andraste were in a way involved in this!" She said, almost yelling at the elderly woman, "I'm just…"

"If you believe in the Maker, then you believe He made this world and everything in it, including your accident." Justinia said wisely, "And if you do not, nothing has changed. You cannot escape the lair of the Nightmare until you regain all that it took from you. You have recovered some of yourself, but now it knows you are here. You must make haste. I will prepare the way ahead."

Justinia faded and disappeared, making Alex blink, before she turned around to look at her companions. Varric, Cole and Blackwall were just watching their interaction with great interest, but Hawke had a visible frown on her face. Alistair saw it too, and he said to her, "What's wrong, Hawke?"

Hawke glared up at him, "I wonder if you might be concerned about the Grey Wardens holding the Divine in that vision. Their actions led to her death."

Alistair looked over to her worriedly, "I assumed Corypheus took their minds. You've seen it happen yourself." He sighed, as he patted her arm a little, "Come on, you can add it to the things to yell at the Wardens when we get out of here."

Hawke growled as Alistair started walking, "Oh, I intend to."