What ensued was chaos. Stained red was certainly accurate, crimson spatters of blood flying all over the room as people fell to the ground, either dead or severely wounded. If not for the physical differences between the templars they were meant to be fighting and the friendly templars, Jacquelyn wouldn't have known who she was meant to be killing. Thankfully, it was over reasonably quickly, the Herald sheathing her sword and returning her shield to its place on her back, her previously white armour stained with flecks of red. She turned to face Barris, who was checking the Knight-Captain.

"Is he still alive?" she asked.

"Barely," he replied. "If you use a healing elixir, he may survive. If he even deserves it."

Jacquelyn nodded.

"We will heal him," she said, using a tone that left no room for argument. "We shall judge the Knight Captain after we find his master."

Barris nodded, quickly searching the knight-captain.

"The Knight Captain's keys," he held them out to Jacquelyn, who took them before heading over to the door that led to the rest of the area. "I would question the Lord Seeker about this Elder One."

Jacquelyn opened the door, immediately getting attacked by another of the… strange… templars.

"They are monsters!" Cassandra exclaimed, equally disgusted and shocked.

"You think?" Varric asked, a slight edge to his voice as he shot a bolt neatly into the templar's head, causing him to fall down, dead. Jacquelyn, who had been closest to the templar, looked around at Varric and nodded her thanks before continuing on. They didn't have long, however, another couple of the turned templars approaching them and attacking. These ones Jacquelyn was ready for, however, and the battle that followed was swift and relatively painless. They continued on, all of them on high alert.

"They're like no templars I've ever seen," Varric muttered, rather thoughtfully.

"Does that matter right now?" Bull asked, his eyes scanning the area for any surprises that might lurk.

"If it's weird and I haven't seen it, that's worrying."

Jacquelyn frowned slightly, thinking.

"It is like that stuff back at the Breach," she muttered. "The red lyrium."

"Maker's breath, Princess… don't even joke about that."

"I would not joke about this, Varric. Though perhaps this is not the best time to be worrying about this. Right now we need to be getting to the Lord Seeker. Then, hopefully, we shall know for certain what is going on."

They were about to step out into a courtyard when Jacquelyn first heard it. A strange voice, sounding sort of like the Lord Seeker's, but distorted in a way that she couldn't quite describe. It struck her as strange that no one else could hear him. His voice was clear as day, even if it did sound off, and yet Cassandra, at the very least, hadn't heard him, and none of the other members in Jacquelyn's party seemed to hear anything, either. She shook her head. It hardly mattered. They had other things to concentrate on.

Then the voice continued, starting to say things that put Jacquelyn slightly on edge, confusing her no end. Things like 'I will know you'. It continued the closer they got to where the Lord Seeker was, and it became more and more obvious that he was aware that he knew that she could hear him. Jacquelyn didn't like it one bit, but she didn't voice any of these concerns. She was the Herald of Andraste. She had to put her faith in the Maker that everything would work out as it was meant to.

But nothing could prepare her for what happened when she actually approached the Lord Seeker. He stood on his own, facing a pair of large doors, seemingly unaware of their presence. Jacquelyn glanced to her companions before slowly approaching him, staying on guard, not sure what to expect from him. When she got close enough, he spun around and grabbed her around her neck, pulling her with him as he stepped backwards, seemingly towards what looked like a rift. Try as she might, Jacquelyn couldn't resist, getting pulled with the Lord Seeker to who knew where.

"At last," he hissed as they fell back into it, adrenaline pumping through Jacquelyn's veins, her heart pounding in her chest as she struggled against him unsuccessfully.

When she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere that she didn't recognise, green mist obscuring the area. She could make out pillars, grass, burning corpses, stuck in the position that they died in. And in the distance she could make out two vague shapes, though she suspected she could recognise them. She pushed her fear down inside her, slowly walking forward, hand moving to rest on the hilt of her sword, more so that she knew it was there than she was about to draw it. She stopped in front of Josephine and Cullen, blinking a couple of times, trying to hide her surprise, her attention snapping to a third party as Leliana walked around the edge of the brick wall, then took her place between Cullen and Josephine.

"Is this shape useful?" Leliana asked, her voice distorted in the same way the Lord Seeker's had been. Jacquelyn's hand tightened around the hilt of her sword, a frown making its way to her face.

"Will it let me know you?" 'Leliana' started walking over to Cullen. "Everything tells me about you," she pulled a knife out from seemingly nowhere, moving to take her place behind Cullen, who didn't move a muscle, his head hanging as though he were a lifeless husk. "Even this. Watch."

"Stop these disgusting lies, Demon," Jacquelyn spat, glaring at 'Leliana', struggling to get her heart rate down to a reasonable spead. The demon didn't say anything, just smiled slightly. Jacquelyn's mouth went dry, her heart racing as 'Leliana' drew the knife along Cullen's throat, then as his body slumped to the ground. Her hand flew to her mouth before she could catch herself, her body starting to shake. When she realised what she was doing, she forced herself to stop, forced herself to glare at the demon instead, tell herself that there was no way this was real. The real Cullen was alive, the real Cullen was fine.

That didn't change that fact that she'd just watched him die. Didn't change what she was now coming to realise. That her feelings for him weren't just some game, like her attention towards men usually were. There was something about him, something that she couldn't ignore. And she'd just watched him die, the person who she was beginning to have real feelings for. 'Leliana' stepped backwards, her voice sounding like a distorted version of Jacquelyn's when she spoke.

"Stop these disgusting lies, Demon!"

Next it was Josephine who stepped forward, playing with a knife as Leliana vanished.

"Being you will be so much more interesting than being the Lord Seeker," she said, Jacquelyn having to turn slightly to keep an eye on her, but she vanished. Jacquelyn frowned, looking around. She hadn't taken her eyes off the Josephine look alike, how could it just have vanished?

"Do you know what the Inquisition could become?"

The voice was right in Jacquelyn's ear, and she spun around, her sword automatically being drawn, trying to swipe it through the demon. But again, it was gone. Jacquelyn's heart was beating furiously by now. She'd never been good with this sort of thing, facing an unknown foe. She always had to be able to see what she was fighting. This was worse than the first time she'd faced down a demon. Far worse.

"You'll see. When I'm done, the Elder One will kill you, and ascend, then I will be you."

Jacquelyn hesitantly returned her sword to its sheath, keeping her eyes scanning the area.

"Who, or what, is this Elder One?" she demanded, keeping her voice as steady as she could. Thinking about what was happening right now was too much. She had to concentrate on getting information where she could, had to concentrate on the task at hand. Then, maybe, she could get through this.

She got laughter before the demon replied.

"He is… between things. Mortal once, but no longer," there was movement out the corner of Jacquelyn's eyes, then 'Josephine' stepped in front of her. "Glory is coming. And the Elder One wants you to serve him like everyone else; by dying in the right way."

"Keep talking, then," Jacquelyn quipped, glaring at the demon as it backed up then walked away. Jacquelyn thought it was over, relief flooding her veins, when another voice she recognised started speaking.

"Keep talking, then," it said once again mimicking her. Jacquelyn closed her eyes for a moment before turning to face Cullen.

"I am Envy, and I will know you!"

Her eyes flicked down to the knife in Cullen's hand, and she had to fight against the urge to take a step backwards.

"Tell me, Herald, in your mind, tell me what you think," he ordered, stabbing a shadow version of Jacquelyn in the back, causing it to fall down with a small grunt of pain. Jacquelyn pushed her own thoughts out of her mind. The demon wanted to know her. She had to think like someone else. Strangely, the first person to come to mind was Siara.

"Tell me what you feel," Envy ordered, now somehow behind Jacquelyn with a replica of the war table. Flame lit up the table with but a gesture from the demon, which leaned on the table in the exact same way that Cullen did, his face screwed up in a nasty scowl. Movement caught Jacquelyn's attention, causing her to turn around again, this time to face a shadow version of herself. It collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from a wound in its gut, Jacquelyn looking down to the knife that was in her hands.

"Tell me what you see."

She threw the knife away, feeling mildly ill. This was too much, too confusing, she didn't understand what was going on. She had to remind herself that she was meant to be thinking like Siara, thinking like she didn't care about anything in the world, think like she didn't care if the world lived or died. A determined frown settled onto her face.

"I won't tell you anything, demon," she muttered, turning and scoping the area before continuing on her way. She had to get out of here, she had to get back to the others, and she had to stop Envy. There was no alternative. She was the Herald of Andraste, and she had a job to do.