Chapter 13: I Knew It Was You
T'Preea, Adam, Mother Isolde, Mierune and I were in a meeting. We were discussing how we would set up a more centralized government and a series of laws that would aid in the governing of the Commonwealth. We needed to put together plans for organized cleaning, reconstruction, and recycling efforts. The Wasteland could only go so far in restoring itself while there was still debris and failing infrastructure everywhere. There were also plans that needed to be made to promote farming, crop sharing, and food distribution until everyone could have the resources they needed to grow or raise their own food. We also needed to begin organizing patrols to ensure the safety of the Commonwealth's citizens.
We had meetings with the Minutemen and were actively working on incorporating them into the Church's organization as local authority's charged with immediate threat response and law enforcement. The Impius Mille would focus primarily on large scale threat response and trade route security. Individual settlements would be in charge of their own security, at least until we had more resources to alleviate that need.
The meeting had only been going on for about twenty minutes when a knock came at the door. Adam scowled but instructed the person to enter.
An acolyte from the church entered looking like she were about to panic, "High Priestess! I bring news you'll want to hear."
I pat the air, "Calm down. Everything's going to be alright. Now, tell me what's wrong."
She took a few moments to calm down, "Forgive me, High Priestess. We've received word that Sanctuary has been destroyed."
"What?" I gasped.
T'Preea looked at me, horrified, "Preston!"
I stood up from my seat, "Adam! Get as many of the Impius Mille you can and meet us and the front gate to the city."
Adam stood, "As you command, High Priestess!" He sprinted out of the room.
"Mother Isolde," I said as the others stood and joined me in leaving, "I want you to gather every acolyte that isn't actively needed for day to day services at the church, and what Trappers we have in the city. Gather first aid supplies and let the Trappers know we'll be doing search and rescue."
"It will be done," Mother Isolde replied as she left to accomplish her task.
T'Preea and I returned to our quarters to get what supplies we might need. We also helped Mierune equip his armor. Once we were prepared, we made our way to the gates of Diamond CIty. To my surprise, there was a large number of Diamond City Security mustering at the entrance.
One of the security members approached me and offered a casual salute, "High Priestess. My name is Lieutenant Mendez. The Mayor heard about Sanctuary and thought you could use some help with relief efforts. My men and I are at your disposal."
I smiled gratefully, "Thank you, LIeutenant. Can Diamond City afford to send this many security personnel?"
"Crime has seen a notable decline ever since that display of yours at the Trinity Tower," Mendez replied. "And with your forces clearing out a perimeter around the city, we're free to do different work. We'd bring more if we could, but the Mayor is comfortable with the amount of men we're sending."
I gave him a nod, "Then I thank you. It's important that we all work together to keep the Commonwealth safe."
"I agree," Mendez said. "We're ready to move whenever you and your people are."
It took nearly half an hour for Adam and Mother Isolde to arrive with everyone they could find. All together there were nearly five hundred people in the response force. The sun was setting as we left and it would take us several hours of constant walking to get to Sanctuary. I smoothed the roads ahead of us so the travel would be easier. Plans for what we would do when we arrived were made as we marched. Search and rescue had been my job in the Coast Guard, and I had trained constantly for different emergency response scenarios. Thanks to this, I was able to organize everyone over the course of a few hours.
It was nearly mid day when we reached the outskirts of concord. The wall I'd erected around the area was still standing, but smoke and ash wave their way into the air telling a grim tale of what awaited on the other side of the calm exterior.
"There aren't any buildings," T'Preea observed. "No trees either. The wall was big but it wasn't taller than the buildings or trees."
"What could have happened?" I wondered.
When we got closer, I commanded the wall to return to the earth. The sight that greeted us was monstrous. The ground itself was scorched and parts of it was still steaming. Rows of buildings had been leveled and turned to nothing more than rubble. More horrific still, the charred remains of the people who were here at the time were strewn everywhere, forever locked into whatever position they were in as they tried to flee.
"They were running from something," one of the Trappers observed as he knelt beside one of the corpses. "Whatever happened, it wasn't sudden. Look at them. They're all trying to get away. Everyone's pointed to the wall."
"What could have caused this level of destruction?" I wondered as I knelt down to run my hand over the scorched stone."
"You could have," Adam mused.
"That's not funny," I snapped back.
"Forgive me, but it wasn't meant to be," he bowed his head. "You, or someone like you, could have easily done something like this."
As we tried to figure out what was going on, the rest of the responders began fanning out to look for survivors.
"There isn't anyone else like her," T'Preea said quietly as she looked over the devastation in horror.
"Perhaps there is," Adam replied. "If the High Priestess has been sent by Atom to reclaim the world, who's to say someone else hasn't been sent to stop her?"
"We'll worry about that later," I said. "Let's focus on why we're here."
I reached out with my stone sense for as far as I could. Apart from the people we'd come with, there wasn't any movement in the destruction zone. There was only a repetitive tapping that came every few seconds. It was precise, and I could tell that it wasn't from anything living.
I sighed, "We won't be finding any survivors."
"What?" T'Preea and Adam said in unison.
"Are you sure?" T'Preea asked.
I nodded, "I checked. No signs of life."
"What about in the rubble?" Adam asked.
I could only shrug, "Doubtful. Most of it is slag, and if whatever did this is melting steel and cracking the concrete, people aren't surviving it."
"Should we call off the rescue efforts?" Mother Isolde asked.
I shook my head, "No. Widen the perimeter. Look for people that would have been outside of the wall. Have the Trappers check the rubble. They'll have the most experience with unsecure terrain."
"As you wish, High Priestess," Mother Isolde said. She began to call out to the others on the change of plans.
I looked up at Mierune, "I want you to help with clearing debris. You're stronger than the rest of them. But be careful. The piles likely won't be stable and they could come crashing down more if you don't use caution."
Mierune nodded and stomped away to do what he could.
"What about Preston?" T'Preea asked.
I gave her an apologetic expression, "I doubt anyone survived this. Maybe he wasn't here when this happened."
"Where else would he have been?" she sobbed.
"I don't know," I replied. "But we have to hope for the best, don't we?"
"I guess…" was all she could say.
"Come on, there's something we need to check out," I said as I took her hand and pulled her with me.
"What is it?" Adam asked as he followed.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But it's the only thing I'm sensing in the area."
It took us some time to trek to Sanctuary itself. The bride that Nate had repaired had been destroyed so I had to summon a new one from the stone. The houses had all been destroyed, the garden was gone, all of the defenses, pumps, and even the mirelurk cage had been destroyed. We followed what was left of the road till we came to where my house had been. Sitting in the middle of the road was a desk, pristine and clearly out of place. On top of it rested an old computer screen, keyboard, and what looked to be an archaic video recorder. Attached to a leg of the desk was a small device that tapped the ground every few seconds.
"Ok, this is creepy," T'Preea said as we approached the desk.
"How did this even get here?" Adam asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know," I replied. "But it means that someone caused all of this destruction."
A chuckle came from the computer's screen and it flicked to life. A man's face appeared on the screen. His face was gaunt, with a meticulously trimmed beard, wide grin, and a bald, shaved head. His eyes were wide, manic, and full of mad glee.
"It is you, isn't it?" he said.
My face screwed up in confusion. Something about the man seemed… familiar…
"Who are you?" I asked.
He mockingly gasped and leaned back, touching his hand to his heart, "What? You don't recognize me? I'm hurt. Truly. I can see you for who you are. The hair, the build… you may be a child now but it's most certainly you. You're even using your old name! Merida Orodum, Empress of Orzammar!"
The way he said my name was predatory. It was like he'd been hunting something all his life and now he had finally found it.
My eyes widened in shock. "How do you know that? Who are you?" I demanded.
He laughed, the sound a cackling, wretched, rapturous, "Oh, this is too much! We
thought something was wrong when one of our facilities self-destructed. But what a glorious coincidence that I was sent to investigate and I heard you announce yourself on the radio!"
"Who are you?" I shouted at the screen.
"My my! Wasn't it you who insisted on etiquette when making introductions the first time
we met?" he snickered. He stepped back from the camera. He was wearing a type of armor I was unfamiliar with, but from what I could see it was a mixture of modern armor theory coupled with advanced HAZMAT precautions. The weapon hanging at his hip was unfamiliar but looked like it fired some kind of heavy projectile similar to a grenade. He lowered himself into a practiced, precise bow, "My name is Liam McCLain, special operative of the Enclave's security forces. But you, Empress Orodum… may call me Seven."
"Seven?" I gasped. Seven had been a reincarnated darkspawn in Thedas and had
become a massive threat with his manipulation over the Tevinter Empire and betrayal of the Archmage Corypheus. If I hadn't managed to gain my Pantheon abilities when I had, I wondered if I could have defeated him. He'd also come to this universe as well.
"You caused all of this destruction, didn't you?" I accused him as I reached out with my
stone sense to try and find him.
He laughed, "I most certainly did. The moment I heard you on the radio, I knew you
would start meddling in the events of this world. It wasn't difficult to find where you'd come from. Everyone in your little Sanctuary spoke so highly of you. It was sickening. But I knew if there was one way to confirm it was you, if there was one way to flush you out, all I had to do was burn this place to the ground. And you know what? As part of the Enclave, I have some amazing weapons at my disposal."
"Watching them run and scream and panic while I leveled the area was a delight," he sneered. "And now that I've confirmed you're here, I'll be sure to speed up my plans."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked desperately. "I could understand your reasoning in Thedas, but you're not in the same position you were then. You can live normally, you can prosper, and you can help people. So why do this?"
"Why?" he echoed. "You're actually asking me why? After what you did to me, you have the gall to ask me why?"
"Don't act innocent," I replied sharply. "I gave you the chance to live peacefully but that wasn't good enough for you. You started a war and attacked my home! You got what you deserved. Did you think I wouldn't defend my people to stop you?"
"You took my power from me," he hissed.
"It wasn't your power," I smirked. "You couldn't even wield it without all those rings containing. Otherwise, Corypheus would have simply taken you over and killed you himself. Don't blame me for the consequences of your own actions."
Seven stared at me coldly for several moments, "I hope you don't mind but I'm going to end you quickly, then I'm going to claim this world as my own. Burn in Hell!"
There was the faintest hint of a warning. Something inside the computer triggered. I sent a pillar of stone up under the desk to send the computer flying while a stone sphere enveloped T'Preea, Adam, and myself. An explosion sent shockwaves through the area. The devastation took only a moment, and after it was through I removed the stone barrier that had protected us. To my surprise, the pillar I had summoned had not only been destroyed, a good portion of it had been melted away.
I stared at the destruction with concern, "What kind of weapons do they have that could do this?"
"Merida," T'Preea said. "If that was really Seven, then we have a whole new set of problems."
"Who is Seven?" Adam asked.
"An old enemy," I replied, grimly. "Someone I've fought before I came to this world."
"Fought, and defeated," T'Preea clarified.
"Now he has better weapons," I countered. "But he doesn't seem to have any magic, so we can be thankful for that. He does know where we are, though. And with the Enclave backing him, he could strike at any time and almost anywhere."
"He won't bother so long as he thinks you're dead," Adam offered.
"He'll learn soon enough that I'm not," I said defiantly. "But he'll also know that he'll have to be careful about making any moves from now on."
"We'll still need to be on our guard," T'Preea cautioned. "The Enclave has more resources than anyone else."
"For now," I agreed. "Come on. We need to regroup with everyone and start making plans. We have a new enemy to prepare for."