Hello, everyone, how's it going?
So this is one of my older unfinished drafts that I just began and never quite finished. I just happed to find it a few days ago while looking through some of my old docs and thought: "Hey, why the hell not?"
Anyways, this is the result. Hope you all enjoy it and do let me know if I got anything wrong cuz it's been a while since I played Dragon Age Inquisition.
Oh, and by the way, warning!: Death and feels ahead!
Skyhold was burning.
That was all Inquisitor Jacob Trevelyan could think of as he sat slumped on his throne, gripping his saber loosely and carrying the look of defeat in his eyes. After failing countless times against Corypheus' forces, after failing to stop the assassination of Empress Celene, after only managing to save the smallest portion of Gray Wardens from their insane ritual, after failing to get to the well of sorrows. Every mistake, loss and death, every sacrifice made boiled down to this.
The Breach was reopened, and soon after, the weakened and beaten Inquisition was laid siege to, their armies meant nothing to Corypheus' archdemon and whoever managed to survive it was soon ended by the unending hordes of demons, Red Templars and Venatori.
And so, here he now sat, beaten and defeated. Every death, every sacrifice meant nothing.
He could remember everything with haunting detail, even more so now that death was but a few moments away.
Warden-Constable Blackwall, whose death made the remaining wardens see the true madness of commander Clarel's plan, and it's true purpose.
Sera: she died in the only way she could, fighting to the last arrow, to the last breath.
The Iron Bull, who rather than sacrifice the chargers, gave his life for the promise of an alliance with the Qunari, an alliance that never came.
Cole: his fear of being binded ultimately becoming a reality.
As he kept thinking, more and more names came forth: scout Lace Harding, Grand Enchanter Vivienne, Josephine Montilyet, Varric Tethras, Krem and the chargers, Morrigan, Hawke, and so the list went on, each name striking at his heart and adding to his mounting sorrow, and his anger.
"Inquisitor!"
Jacob shook his head before turning to look at the source of the voice. "Dorian? I thought I told you to stay in the undercroft."
"Well, It's not like hiding will do us any good now, will it?" He said with a tired smirk. For all his flair, Dorian looked just as tired and defeated as he. His robes were dusty, torn and tattered; a far cry from his usually flawless appearance. His staff wasn't much better, the wood shaft looking like it was about to snap right down the middle.
Jacob sighed, rubbing his eyes with a pained expression. "You're right, it's just… I don't know what else to do."
"Well, that's why I'm here, Inquisitor: Solas and I believe there may still be a solution to all this, as impossible as it sounds." The Tevinter mage's words halted all the thoughts in his mind, he looked around the burning castle hall, and then outside through a hole that a trebuchet had formed on the ceiling, staring at the green vortex that now covered most of the sky.
How could anything ever fix this? He wanted to ask, to yell at him even, to scream and thrash, to break down in tears as the world came undone around him. Yet despite his feelings of rage and sorrow, he couldn't; a small part of him still dared to hope that all of this could somehow have a happy ending. He knew it was a foolish thought, and yet he couldn't stop himself from clinging to the faint hope. In these final moments, what else did he have to lose?
With a sigh, Jacob got up from his throne and walked over to Dorian, managing to take but a few steps before having to rely on his saber for support. He knew it was harmful to the blade, he could feel the tip bending and chipping against the ground with every step. He couldn't have cared less. "Show me."
Dorian nodded and silently opened the door to the undercroft. The heads of the survivors turned towards him, Jacob took a deep breath and briefly looked around, locking eyes with the last remnants of the Inquisition.
Cullen was badly hurt, his armor dented and torn beyond repair, his mangled sword arm barely able to lift his weapon, and yet the fire in his eyes spoke of determination only heard of in legends, Cullen Rutherford was ready to die.
Leliana looked as grim as always, though he could see the anger hidden behind her eyes. Leliana knew she was going to die, she knew their enemy wanted them to die in despair, to cower in fear of their presence. She refused to give them her fear, she would deny them the satisfaction by fighting with the fury of a thousand suns until the very end, the left hand of the divine would not go down quietly into the dark.
Cassandra looked in more ways than one. Her armor was scratched and dented in places but still usable if only to endure one more hit. Her sword had broken by the tip and the shield on her back looked more like a hunk of deformed metal, though the eye of the inquisition that adorned it somehow remained untouched.
Harrit was holding a flanged mace on his right hand and a simple heater shield on the left. He wore a simple coat of plates above a chainmail hauberk which was itself over a thick gambeson, metal greaves worn over a pair of sturdy riding boots protected his shins, a pair of simple gauntlets and a kettle helm which sat atop a chainmail coif. As simple as the armor and weapons looked, they were made from dragon bone, scales and webbing. He'd once told Jacob that he hoped to never need to craft something for himself, and now here he was, armed and armored with the finest materials they had, legendary gear that would only ever be used once. He didn't know if he had experience as a fighter, but knew from the look in his eye that he was ready to go down as one.
Dagna looked terrified, her foot tapping on the floor and biting her lip so hard it was bleeding, though that didn't seem to lessen the iron grip on the warhammer in her hands. She was no warrior but was ready to die as one, that kind of bravery was seldom seen, and for that, the young arcanist had his eternal respect.
Jacob looked at the final member of the inquisition. Mysterious elven mage, always so serious, but never had he seen him as serious as in that very moment. The Inquisitor sighed as he began to limp his way towards him. "Solas," he weakly greeted him.
"Inquisitor," the exhausted looking elven mage said with a small nod. "There isn't much time so I'll get straight to the point: I believe that we may be able to fix this by replicating the time magic magister Alexius used on Redcliffe."
Jacob looked at him like he'd gone mad. "I'm sorry, what? You're planning to send us back in time?"
"Not us, just you Inquisitor," Cullen said as he slowly walked over to them, limping and trembling with every step. "You're the one with the anchor, so it must be you."
"Cullen?" he turned to look at him, then at everyone else in the room, eyes slowly widening in realization. "You've all agreed to this… haven't you?" several heads nodded as an answer, he sighed. "Alright then… what's the catch?"
"The catch is that Alexius went back months, and when he sent us to the dark future, it was only by a year. We are planning to send you back much further away than that, and that's going to need lots of power," said Dorian as he placed arrays of fire glyphs by the entrance, while Cassandra and Leliana placed crates, caltrops and all sorts of clutter to make the ground as difficult to maneuver as possible. "The kind that would need more than just two mages to harness." Dorian continued. "Even with the veil torn open I doubt Solas and I will be enough to gather the required magical energy to send you back so far."
"What do we do then?" he asked.
"Blood magic," Cullen said as he walked up to Solas and handed him a dagger, the elven mage took it with a grim nod.
"And lyrium, lots of it," Said Dorian as he moved to stand beside his fellow mage, handing him four lyrium potions, keeping another four for himself.
"Wait!" Jacob took Cullen by the shoulder. "We're not going to sacrifice more people, and you!" she pointed a finger at Solas. "Since when are you a blood mage?!"
"Inquisitor…" Cullen gently removed his hand. "My injuries will take me soon, it's a miracle I can stand at all, let alone fight, I won't die a warrior's death but I'll be damned if I just die like this, let my death be useful for something, let me die knowing that I did all I could to stop this nightmare." His words left him speechless, he knew what blood magic did to those who used it, he knew what it could bring, and yet he was willing to take part in it, if only for the chance that it could set things right.
"We all agreed to this, Inquisitor," Leliana said as she took place near the back of the room, reading her bow.
"Under normal circumstances, I would have never agreed, but this is our only hope to save the world from this madness." Cassandra chimed in. "I wished there was a different way, but there is not."
It was Solas' turn to speak. "As for your question… When Cole was binded, I took it upon myself to research as much as I could into blood magic, searching for a way to undo it…" he sighed. "I'm not a blood mage, but I know more than enough to do this. I cannot say that it will be without risk, but at this point any plan is as good as the next."
Jacob looked at the two, looking into their eyes, he sighed when he saw the sheer determination in them. "Fine…" Solas looked at Dorian and nodded, the two drank their lyrium potions and Dorian began casting the spell, creating a marble sized black spot in the air that distorted everything around it.
Cullen stepped up to Solas and nodded, the mage placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded back. "You are a good man, Cullen. I'm sorry it had to come to this."
"So am I, Solas, so am I." He turned around and raised his head to give Solas better access to his neck. The fire, the determination in his eyes still burned bright as he looked at him in the eye. "Go in peace, Inquisitor…" said Cullen as Solas placed the dagger on his throat.
Jacob closed his eyes and looked away, not daring to look as Solas slit his throat. "Go in peace, Cullen…"
Solas joined Dorian with the spell, with the added power, the black spot began to rapidly grow in size, reshaping into a vortex of black and green. Just then, the door to the undercroft splintered as the fist of a red Templar went through it.
The remnants of the inquisition readied their weapons. "The spell still needs power, buy us some time!" shouted Dorian.
Cassandra looked at him and nodded. "We will fight for as long as we can."
Jacob wished he could be with them at the front, but he knew he needed to be ready to jump into the time portal as soon as it was ready. He bit his lip as he thought of a way to help them from where he stood, then remembered; he still had his bombs. Quickly checking his bomb belt, he found eight Antivan fire grenades. Exactly what he needed.
Not a second later, the door exploded, letting inside a torrent of Venatori and red Templars. The first few fell victim to Dorian's glyphs, while the rest had to slow down to maneuver around the junk strewn across the floor. Cassandra, with Harrit and Dagna at her back, made to engage in melee, but before they could, he yelled out a warning and brought out one grenade, giving it a kiss before tossing it. "Burn you bastards, burn!" it exploded into a majestic ball of fire that left behind a pool of fire and charred corpses.
More enemies began to pour in, as numerous as ever. Despite the grenade having killed a decent number of them, it was naught but a drop in an ocean. As they began to breach into the undercroft, Leliana began to fire arrow after arrow, each one a clean and swift kill, he, meanwhile, tossed another grenade, briefly looking behind to look at the progress of the two mages.
"Not yet! We need more time!" Solas yelled, voice strained.
Another second passed, another wave poured in, larger than last. Narrow paths and entrances negated superior numbers, but with so few defenders, that advantage could only last for so long. The third grenade wasn't enough to end the lives of all their enemies, and so, the trio of Cassandra, Harrit and Dagna were forced to engage with the stragglers, and by that point, more were already making their way inside, just this time, it wasn't only Venatori and red Templars. A rage demon lunged at Cassandra, completely ignoring the fire of his third grenade. Harrit intercepted the blow with his shield and struck the demon with his mace and was quickly joined by Dagna, who swung as hard as she could, ending the demon quickly. Soon after, the gray warden to whom it was binded entered, staff in hand and slinging bolts of lightning at Harrit. Cassandra was quick to nullify his magic, leaving herself open for the briefest of moments. Her opponent, a red Templar, took the opportunity and struck directly to her chest. Her armor crumpled and she cried out in pain, Harrit moved to her aid and blocked the follow up attack that would have ended her life, while Leliana put an arrow on his neck. Meanwhile, Dagna moved to strike at the gray warden mage, but in doing so left herself open.
Out of nowhere, a terror demon came out of the ground and struck one of its long hands into her stomach and lifted her up. The young arcanist screamed in horror and pain. It was raw, painful, and so loud that her voice almost immediately went hoarse, it was a sound that would forever haunt him. She kicked, punched, and tried to swing her hammer to no avail. Leliana shot arrows at it but against the demon, she might as well be shooting at stone, meanwhile, Harrit and Cassandra were too far away to do anything but watch. Her fate was sealed, and it was a cruel one. She struggled while she could, her kicking and wailing only stopped when the other hand of the demon rose to twist her neck unnaturally with a sickening crack. It dropped her body unceremoniously, then twisted to face the two warriors left.
Seeing as they were getting overwhelmed, the Inquisitor shouted. "Fall back!" He tossed another grenade, which thankfully gave the two front liners time to retreat. All the while, Leliana ended the lives of those not killed by the fire, but it would not be enough.
The terror that killed Dagna jumped from underneath the duo. Cassandra was quick to react and managed to avoid getting knocked over, but Harrit wasn't as lucky. The demon decided to focus on the blacksmith and raised one arm, ready to claw at him, but before it could attack, Cassandra ran it through with her broken blade. As the demon dissipated with a screech, more and more enemies entered the undercroft, far too many.
Leliana was quick to see the situation for what it was. She continued firing arrow after arrow, her supply of them quickly draining. "Is the spell ready?!" she shouted.
"We only need a few more seconds!" Dorian answered.
"We're out of time!" Leliana said urgently.
The Inquisitor grit his teeth in frustration. He was the one going back, so he couldn't engage in melee, and without any ranged options, there was only one thing he could do. Jacob growled and quickly undid his grenade belt, counting four. He readied one, and with a growl, tossed the belt towards the door. "Then allow me to buy you some more!"
The follow up explosion was unlike any he'd ever seen. A massive fireball engulfed the entire entrance and quickly rose to the ceiling, as if it were trying to swallow the entire undercroft. Panicked and dying screams filled his ears as the enemies of the Inquisition charred and burnt to death, and the following wave of heat was so intense he had to cover his face. When it was over, those who did not die during the initial blast wished they had, as the remaining pool of fire hungrily consumed them. The smell was horrid, but It bought them some time, even if it was only a few seconds. For a moment, Jacob smiled, and then a venatori mage stepped forward.
For a second, everything was covered in fire, the next, it had been extinguished by a bone chilling breeze. More enemies came through and this time, he could do nothing but watch. Cassandra and Harrit tried to hold their ground, but with as many enemies as there were, they were overrun in a matter of seconds. Harrit's lack of skill as a fighter was what ultimately cost him his life. Too concerned about covering Cassandra, he forgot about the enemies to his flank, and although his gear held up for far longer than common arms and armor would have, eventually something had to cave. Raising his shield to ward Cassandra from a red Templar's blade, his torso was exposed. He swung his mace left and right to deter attackers but it was not enough. The first strike went off the armor, the second dented it, and the third finally broke it, piercing through it directly into his heart, leaving him time to do little else but release a gurgled gasp before he collapsed onto the floor.
Cassandra was incredibly skilled, and her abilities as a seeker gave her an edge over her enemies, however, with her wounds and with only Leliana to give ranged support, she soon fell victim to a myriad of armor shattering blows. Through the many strikes, not once did she stop fighting, each cut and stab she took on her body being paid dearly by the one to commit it. A sword to the ribs, one beheaded Templar, a cut across her back, one Venatori who would not live a second longer to relish on his victory. By the time they finally got her, she was bleeding from every part of her body and had no less than five swords stabbed through her chest and gut. Despite the fact that her body collapsed onto a kneeling position, it still gripped the weapons she had used for so long in a deathly grip.
"It's ready!" Solas shouted from behind him. The inquisitor wasted no time and limped towards the portal, only looking back upon hearing Leliana's cry of pain and fury. The mass of enemies were already upon her, and further away, on the back, he could see two archers taking aim at Solas and Dorian. The spymaster craned her neck towards him, and as her life was taken from her, he could see her lips mouth one word.
They made no sound, but in that moment, he swore he heard her voice whisper in his ear. "Go."
Jacob grit his teeth, closed his eyes and gathered whatever strength his legs had and jumped through the portal. The last thing he heard as he passed through, was the sound of two arrows whistling past his ears.
He landed on his side with a grunt, and for the next minute, he simply lay there, not daring to open his eyes in fear of what he might witness. He took whatever little courage he had left and finally, slowly opened his eyes. Jacob found himself standing in Skyhold's throne room, alone surrounded by cold and deafening silence. After a moment, he stood and dared to look around. The familiar walls were cracked, destroyed, the decorations along the sides were nowhere to be seen, and most glaringly, when he looked behind him, there was no throne, only a chair that had been beaten and battered by the elements that came in from the shattered window behind it, which showed the beautiful sights of the icy mountains of the Ferelden frostbacks. He limped over to the chair and sat down with a sigh, taking deep breaths as he tried to collect himself. One hand let go of his sword and moved to hold his forehead, the other tightening into a fist as his shoulders tensed.
He shook, and then, just as he felt like he had put himself back together, he heard a bird singing in the distance. A tear escaped his eye, followed by a broken sob. Both hands flew towards his face, and, overwhelmed by pain and sorrow, he screamed.
And there it is. This whole idea originally began after watching a video of the main story missions' game over screens. We get to simply reload the last save and try again, but as I watched the video I thought: "What would happen if we didn't?"
This first chapter went through a lot of changes, and I do mean A LOT, biggest one being the Inquisitor themselves. I tried male, female, human, elf, dwarf, qunari, mage, rogue, warrior. I tried pretty much everything but In the end, I settled for Jacob for plot reasons, which you hill hopefully get to see if I choose to continue this story.
Anyways, let me know if you liked it and I will (maybe) see you next time!
P.S: Autocorrect may have turned Leliana into Liliana.
P.P.S: Inquisitor may have been refered to as a she in some paragraphs, my bad!