Adamant Fortress. The building truly was a spectacle and deserving of its name, but alll around were the sounds of chaos–the sounds of war. The Wardens fought viciously against us. It felt wrong being on the other side of a Grey Warden, but we needed to stop them and get to Clarel. The warriors may listen to reason, but they would never turn on their Commander. The mages, however, I feared were lost to Corypheus. A trebuchet launched a flaming rock at Adamant and struck the ramparts, knocking several Wardens off the building and to their deaths. Their screams sent chills down my spine and settled deep into my bones. I grit my teeth and turned to Cullen. "We need to get in there now!"

"We're working on it, Inquisitor, but we can't get the doors down. Adamant is called a fortress for a reason."

"They're dying," I hissed. "Needlessly."

"People are always dying," Solas stated bluntly beside me. "We cannot concern ourselves with their lives. They made their choices."

I furrowed my brow. As a leader, I was probably supposed to think that way, but I couldn't help feeling a little tinge of sorrow every time we gained an inch in the "enemy's" defense and struck down another Grey Warden. I chewed on my lip with a combination of fear, worry, and overwhelming guilt.

"This can't go on," I snapped, abruptly turning away from my advisors.

"Inquisitor!?" Cullen shouted over the cries of war. "Where are you going?"

"To make my own fucking entrance," I yelled over my shoulder.

I watched as Solas shook his head, but followed after me and Cole slipped behind him like a shadow. I didn't stop stomping toward the front gates until Varric grabbed my arm as I passed by and pulled me to the side. "They're as beat up about this as you are," he tried.

"Well no one is doing anything and more people are dying by the minute," I said with fury in my tone and anger in my blood.

"You can't go in there with the mentality that you won't kill anyone. That will get you killed immediately," Varric warned.

"Are you coming or not?" I snapped.

Varric sighed, but nodded and followed closely behind me. Another giant flaming rock smashed into the side of the fortress, sending more people scattering. I picked up my pace, watching as another weapon was launched. We were almost there–I could practically touch the stone of the fortress. I heard a scream from above and looked up just in time to dodge a man being thrown over the edge of the battlement. When I honed in on his attacker, I spotted a demon.

It also spotted me.

I ran to the nearest ladder and started to climb it. It was waiting for me the second I reached the top and its long claws raked out, hoping to catch me. But I threw myself at the creature before its claws could snag in my flesh and knocked us both to the ground. I freed one of my daggers and stabbed it into the demon's eye sockets. I yanked my dagger out and grabbed at my second dagger as another demon approached me. I lashed out at the monstrosity, not noticing the Grey Warden brandishing her sword behind me until it was too late. A flash of light blasted the Warden back until she stumbled over the edge of the battlement. I ran forward, hoping to catch her. Our hands missed each other by a hair's breadth–our fingertips brushing–and she tumbled to her death. I whipped around, aiming my dagger at the neck of the person behind me. Solas didn't flinch even as the metal touched his skin.

"Why did you do that?" I shouted over the carnage.

"She was going to kill you," Solas stated.

"We can save them," I insisted. "We just have to get to Clarel."

"I will kill every single one of them if they come near you," Solas said with as much intensity.

"You didn't listen to my orders," I accused.

"Easy now," Varric stated, stepping between us. "Chuckles is right. We can't let them kill one of us. We can try to keep the damage to a minimum, but you're not thinking with clarity, Inquisitor."

I lowered my weapon, my brow furrowed with fury. I huffed and spun on my heels, choosing to ignore them both.

They were right. I knew they were right. But I felt my sanity shredding with each fallen soldier. I was used to death, but I was also used to there being clear sides–the good guys and the bad. Those lines were so blurred here at Adamant–I wasn't even sure if there were any lines. I couldn't handle another second of being trapped in that morally grey area.

My emotional turmoil was distracting me. Before I could defend, a Warden caught me in the side with a sword and I grunted with pain. Thankfully, they hit my armor instead of skin, but the blow would surely leave a tender bruise later. The Warden lifted their sword high above their head, ready for another, more serious, strike. I opened my mouth to reason with them, but a bolt struck through their throat and their sword clattered to the ground. It was Varric's doing. I turned to admonish him, but he held up a hand. "A thank you for saving your life will suffice."

I growled with anger and took off down the battlements toward the area with green light emanating from it. If I had to hazard a guess, that was where I would find Clarel. I ran, dodging everyone I could and only attacking demons with lethality. When we grew closer to where I thought the Warden Commander was, I noticed the tell-tale signs of an open rift and my hand pulsated with magic in response. Beneath the rift, I watched with horror as Clarel sliced the neck of her fellow Warden. I slid to a stop, my breathing uneven and sweat chilling on my brow.

"Stop!" I shrieked too late.

Clarel noticed me, but that also meant so did the Tevinter mage Loghain had mentioned–Lord Erimond. I ground my teeth together, pure fury flowing through me like liquid fire. "Clarel, stop! Erimond isn't helping the Wardens! He's creating an army for Corypheus!"

"Corypheus?" Clarel said with a confused look on her face. "He is dead."

"Don't listen to these people. They are trying to pollute your sacrifice!" Erimond argued.

I watched the emotional battle rage in the Warden Commander's face as she pinched her brow. Finally though, she shouted, "Bring it through!"

"No!" I screamed, my weapons flashing with the green energy swirling in the air as I brandished them.

The Grey Wardens approached, cutting off my path to Clarel and I turned my attention to them for a moment to plead desperately, "I will spare anyone I can. I do not want to fight you! I just need to make Clarel see reason! You're being used! Some of you must know it deep down!"

"The mages," one Warden started timidly. "They're not right! They were my friends…but I don't even recognize them anymore."

"Don't let fear sway your mind, Warden Chernoff!" Clarel shouted.

"He's not afraid!" said a voice behind me. I turned to find Hawke stepping up, fury matching my own on their face. "You are, Clarel! You're afraid you ordered all of this death for nothing."

With that, the Wardens turned to face their Commander.

Seeing how the tides were turning, Erimond stomped his staff on the ground as he shouted, "My master thought you might come. He sent me a more reliable ally!"

A monstrous scream set my teeth on edge and I threw out every curse word I knew.

That. Fucking. Dragon.

I watched it tear through the sky–leathery wings beating against the wind–and land with a boom on the top of a watch tower. Pieces of debris fell off around the dragon's bulk and it tossed back its head to let loose a terrifying shriek.

I pointed at the creature and shouted, "Does that convince you that we are telling the truth?"

Clarel immediately lashed out, striking Erimond in the back with lightning magic. He dropped to the ground spasming just as the dragon shifted its attention to the Warden Commander. The creature spat out a breath of fire and leapt off of the watch tower. I watched it disappear behind a cloud before I turned back to Clarel and Erimond. She had the Tevinter mage pinned to the ground, her staff whirling as she unleashed bursts of lightning at the downed man.

"You destroyed the Grey Wardens!" Clarel seethed as she stomped around Erimond's prone form.

My skin prickled with unease and I ran forward to help her.

"Wait!" I shouted.

My words came too late, however. The dragon dropped down from the sky like a heavy shadow and snatched Clarel up, teeth digging into flesh before it snapped its head to the side and spat her out. I thought I screamed, but the sound was blocked out by the victorious screeching of the dragon. Clarel rolled over onto her back–how could she still be alive?–and lifted her hand. Just as the dragon lunged at us, the Warden Commander unleashed a powerful burst of magic that sent the creature flying over the edge of the battlement. The monstrosity scrambled to grasp onto something and lashed out wildly with its tail. The appendage struck me, knocking me right off of my feet and into the stone parapet. I heard the crack as my skull hit the hard surface and I felt my vision swim. Then hands were on me, helping me stand.

I heard Varric and Cole muttering to me, but couldn't make out their words. The ground trembled beneath our feet as the battlement fell apart. Clarel's body slid over the edge as the stone crumbled down into the abyss. My legs wobbled as I tried to carry myself, but the next thing I knew, I was falling backwards. I reached out as if I could catch myself on the ledge, but a hand found mine instead. Solas clasped my hand in his. I should have told him to run, but seeing his face made tears well in my eyes. We both fell backward, but we clutched each other comfortingly. I heard my companions cry out as they also slipped from the edge and became victims of gravity. Wind whipped my hair and clothes back as we dropped through the air. Desperate and slightly concussed, I stretched out my free arm. I wasn't sure what I could do, but doing nothing would result in my companions and I being splattered across Adamant. The mark on my hand burst to life as if responding to my desperation.

A blinding light appeared and engulfed us.

When I opened my eyes again, Solas and I were clinging to one other…hovering inches from the ground–halted in mid-air. I reached out a tentative hand as if to touch the ground with my fingertips, but suddenly the force holding us upright released and we plopped into the dirt. I groaned in pain, but I was alive. I felt Solas's hands on me, checking every inch of my body for injuries. I reached out as well for him, reassured that he was alright only after he said my name.

"What happened?" Loghain said to my right with a similar disbelief that I felt.

"We…we were falling," Hawke said to my left. "Are we dead?"

"No," Solas answered as he helped me to stand. "We are in the Fade."

My head was still jumbled, but that sentence definitely didn't sit right with me. "That's not possible."

"Is it not? You did it once already," Solas countered. He touched a gentle hand to the base of my skull and when I winced he apologized. "I can't heal the concussion, but I can at least stop the bleeding."

I nodded weakly and he placed a hand over the wound at the back of my head. As he worked, his eyes roamed the land we found ourselves in, his eyes lighting up. "You opened a rift and physically dropped us into the Fade," he said with wonder. "Do not tell me it's not possible with the Black City sitting there close enough to touch."

"Don't enjoy this too much, Chuckles," Varric admonished.

"I can't be here. This place is wrong. I made myself forget when I made myself. This is wrong. This is not right. I can't be here," Cole rambled.

I reached out and clasped him on the shoulders. "We will find a way out of here, Cole. It's okay. Breathe."

"Can we escape through the rift we left behind in the main hall?" Loghain offered.

I followed his line of vision and spotted the swirling green cloud formation in the Fade sky. I tilted my head to the side in thought and winced when the motion made me nauseous.

"It's worth a shot," I said with a strength I didn't feel. "It's either that or sit here and wait for whatever is lurking to find us."

Solas stepped away from me to take in more of the view and Cole fretted beside me, his fingers twitching with panic. I lifted Cole's chin until his frantic eyes found mine.

"Breathe," I said slowly.

He nodded and did as instructed. I wasn't sure if he needed to breathe as spirit or if it would help, but it was the only advice I had for him. I straightened and looked once more toward the glowing green clouds. Something was wiggling in my brain–a memory I just couldn't grasp onto. I shoved it aside and moved forward, leading my diminished team toward what could be their deaths.

We'd been walking for what felt like hours. The scenery wasn't changing much though, just lots of rocky formations decorated with flickering candles and ominous bones–all doused in erie green lighting. I was sick of this place.

I walked a bit ahead of my companions, most of them absorbing their surroundings with either fear or wonder–perhaps a mixture of both. I was keeping my focus on getting out of here. I didn't care what the Fade looked like–I just wanted out of it. There was an underlying feeling of wrongness burrowed under my skin and I couldn't get rid of it.

Suddenly, I felt my stomach's contents roil and I had to breathe in deeply through my nose to keep the nausea at bay. My vision doubled and I misstepped, tripping over a sharp rock. An arm caught me and I looked up into Solas's face, sure that my own face relayed my struggle.

"Do you need to sit down?" he asked quietly.

"No," I insisted. "I'll be okay. It will pass."

Solas looked like he wanted to say more, but the others were growing closer. Instead he said, "The demon who controls this place is powerful and…disturbed."

"Let's hope we don't run into it then," I replied.

I separated myself from Solas and pressed on with my companions at my back. I spotted a figure ahead, waiting patiently and in full view. What kind of demon waits so calmly for an enemy to approach? I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, but as I neared the strange woman standing in the Fade looking so calm, I heard Loghain hiss, "Impossible."

"Greetings, Inquisitor," the woman–dressed in chantry clothes–said, "And you, Champion."

"How…how can you be here?" I asked breathlessly.

"The Divine is dead," Loghain affirmed. "This must be a demon."

"Are you a demon as well?" the Divine countered. "You are also here in the Fade."

"Are you friend of foe is the real question," Hawke stated bluntly.

The Divine bowed her head and said, "I am here to help."

She turned to me, her eyes roving over me as if looking for something. "You do not remember what happened, do you?"

"No," I answered honestly. "Did you take my memories?"

Justinia shook her head. "That would be the doing of the demon that serves Corypheus. The false Calling that has the Grey Wardens terrified is this demon's doing. This is its lair."

"How is Corypheus gathering all of these demons? What do they get out of it?" I hissed.

"Corypheus brings terror to the world and this demon grows fat off of it," the Divine answered.

"We need to leave," Cole insisted, growing frantic again. "We need to leave now."

Justinia held up a hand and shook her head. "Before you leave, you must take it back."

"It?" I prodded.

"What the demon took from you when you first entered the Fade."

I touched my chest as if I could feel something missing inside of me. I furrowed my brow and opened my mouth to ask her what she meant, when a pain in my skull exploded behind my eyes. My head fell into my hands and I parted my lips in a silent scream.

Images flashed before my eyes. I saw Grey Warden mages pinning the Divine as Corypheus stalked closer. I watched him hold the orb up to her, his wicked grin splitting his monstrous face. The doors in the images flew open and suddenly, there I was. Standing there with a stupid, confused look on my face. The captured divine smacked the orb out of Corypheus's hand in the confusion and it rolled…right up to me. I watched myself reach down and snatch up the orb in my left hand. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, the vision vanished. I lifted my head and found every pair of eyes glued to me.

"Did you all see that?" I asked softly.

"Your mark comes from the orb," Loghain said by way of answering. "Guess that means you weren't blessed by Andraste herself."

"I never said I was," I huffed under my breath.

Justinia looked at me with what seemed an awful lot like pity. "You have recovered some of yourself. That is all I was able to gather for you. You must find the other pieces before you leave. But now the demon knows you are here."

As suddenly as she had appeared, the Divine vanished as I blinked. I spun on my heels as if she might be hiding behind me, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's keep moving," I ordered, caution in my voice as I stepped toward a hill.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," Cole babbled behind me. "Can't relax. Can't release. It should be like home, but it's not. Not this part."

When I cleared the hill, however, I stopped in my tracks as a voice reverberated in the air, "Should I be afraid? It seems the powerful Inquisition has graced my doorstep."

The demon laughed mockingly and Cole inhaled a sharp breath. I turned to comfort him, but the voice said, "Are you afraid, Cole? I can help you forget. We are so alike. We can help people by making them forget."

"No," Cole breathed.

"Ignore it, Cole," I barked as I heard a slithering sound behind me.

A demon shifted into being and I turned to Solas. "Is that our demon?"

"No, this one is too weak." Solas answered as he aimed a shot of magic at the creature.

It tumbled with the hit and I pounced on the creature immediately, my daggers making quick work of it.

"Playing hide and seek?" I called out to the demon whose domain we were in.

A screech brought my attention to a horde of fat, ugly spiders scrambling toward us.

"I'm assuming these aren't our demon either?" I shouted as I stabbed one between its many eyes.

"No!" Solas shouted, lighting several of the creatures on fire. "These are manifestations of fear itself, but they are not the demon."

The spiders were easy to dispatch, but there were so many of them. They crawled over ledges, poured out of crevices, and manifested as if out of thin air.

"Teyrn Logahin Mac Tir," the demon rumbled. "So brilliant and yet the one time you tried to rule, you failed. It only took you being humiliated to save your country."

Loghain grunted in response, choosing to instead focus on slicing the spider nearest him.

"Did you think anything you did mattered, Hawke?" the fear demon tried. "You couldn't even save a single city. Do you really think you can save the world?"

"Don't listen to it, Hawke," Varric interjected.

"And Varric," it called out playfully. "Once again Hawke is in danger because of you."

"Just keep talking, Smiley," Varric spat.

Our demon friend simply chuckled as we struggled.

"Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena ma din," the demon purred.

My ears perked with the familiarity of the words, but it was difficult to make out. I wasn't the best at my lessons in elvhen, but it felt like the demon was speaking a more archaic version…something very similar to the language I knew and yet much older. I could make out bits and pieces. He was calling someone a trickster and telling them something about pride.

"Banal nadas," Solas replied, the words rolling off his tongue coolly.

"What are they saying?" Varric whispered beside me.

"I think Solas just told our demon friend to shut up," I replied with the ghost of a smile.

Spider blood spewed across my chest as I yanked my dagger free from its corpse. When I looked up, they were finally gone. I had a feeling it wasn't because of our efforts though and had more to do with the demon toying with us. I backed up, my eyes searching for more spiders, and stumbled right into something solid. I turned around and found myself in a small graveyard. The name on the tombstone looked familiar though, so I swiped at the dirt on the stone to read it.

"Why does that thing have my name on it?" Varric asked behind me.

I thought about hiding it for a moment, but that was silly. Instead, I stepped aside so he could read the words under his name.

"Became his parents?" Varric read. For once, the dwarf didn't have a joke.

"They have all of our friends' names on them," Cole commented, standing in front of his own which read, "despair."

I turned my head to find Solas staring down one tombstone with that same look of despair in his eyes on those moments when I touched upon the pain inside of him.

"Vhenan?" I said as I came up beside him.

"We need to keep moving," Solas said quietly.

I didn't miss the words beneath his name that said, "dying alone".

"You are a guest in my home," the demon chuckled from somewhere. "As a present, I will give you what you seek."

Pain, again, burst inside of my head as images–no, memories–flooded my vision. I watched as spiders climbed up a broken rampart. Above them, I scrambled to reach out to a hand extended toward me. My memory-self clasped the hand and Divine Justinia's face came into view. She shoved me toward the Fade rift–was that the one I came out of in Haven?-just as the spiders overtook her. I tried to fight them off, but the older woman commanded me to run as the spiders dragged her back.

The memory stopped abruptly and so did the pain. Hands touched my shoulder and I lifted my head, shame washing over me as I looked at the woman who appeared before me. "I left you behind," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Justinia shook her head. "I told you to go."

"Justinia died," Loghain commented. "What are you?"

Golden light blossomed from within the Divine before us until she was nothing but light bent into the shape of a woman.

"Are you her memory? A spirit who took pity on her? What?" I asked.

"Whatever story you need to hear, I will tell it," the figure replied.

A screech tore my attention away and I found more spiders crawling toward us.

"The Nightmare has found us," the figure announced as she disappeared out of sight.

"Do you think you can defeat me?" the demon cooed. "The demon army slaughtering your people is commanded by me.

"So if we banish you, we stop the demons," I countered, a grin growing on my face. "Thank you for such a helpful tip."

"Guess they're the demon of fear, not intelligence," Varric quipped.

As if upset by the comment, the demon finally appeared itself. I didn't need to ask Solas who it was, I felt it in my bones as my limbs trembled with inherent fear. The creature took the vague shape of a human with elongated limbs, but its head was that of a spider. That was terrifying enough, but behind the demon was a massive creature, unlike anything I have seen before. It had the spindly, hairy legs of a spider and several pairs of eyes, but its mouth was huge and cavernous in the center of its body. Holes like craters marred its body and spittle flew from its mouth as it screamed. Behind the ugly pair of unnatural beings was a rift–the rift we needed to get home. Out of the corner of my eye, golden light sparked to life and the figure of the woman flew forward.

"Please tell Leliana," she said as she passed me. "'I'm sorry. I failed you, too'."

Light blinded us, but I shouted for my team to move forward and around the creatures. I charged forward, only hoping they were listening. When the light had receded, we were almost there and I felt a small smile form on my lips. It was short-lived, however. The Nightmare's creature loomed before us and stepped in front of the rift, effectively cutting off our exit.

"Go!" Loghain shouted. "I'll clear a path!"

"I will cover you," Hawke insisted.

"No, you were right. The Wardens mucked this up. We should be the ones to fix it."

I yanked Hawke's arm, practically dragging them toward the rift.

"We need to leave," I demanded.

"We can't leave him!" Hawke cried.

I looked pleadingly to Solas and said, "Make sure all of them get through the rift. Don't let anyone stay. When I go through, I'll seal the rift behind me."

Solas nodded once before he and Varric seized Hawke. I turned my back on them, watching Loghain struggle with the creature. I stayed put by the rift, hacking and slashing at limbs that seemed to come out of nowhere. Loghain looked positively deranged as he sliced the creature, blood coating his entire body.

"Close the rift!" he shouted.

"I won't leave you," I shouted.

"You can't save everyone," Loghain said with a chuckle.

Hands reached through the fade rift and grabbed me, yanking me back. We all tumbled to the ground and I screamed for Loghain as I scrambled to my feet. A single spindly leg punctured through the fade and I instinctively reacted. My hand shot out and the rift snapped closed on the creature's limb, slicing it right off.

I dropped to my knees even as I heard the cheers rise up among my people. By sealing the rift, I must have sealed off the Nightmare's control of the demons here at Adamant…and yet, I had left a man to die. Just as I had left Justinia to die. I should feel victory…but I felt cold nothingness closing in on me. Tears burned my eyes, but nothing fell as I stared down into my palms.

A warden helped me stand and asked, "Inquisitor? Where is Loghain?"

I flinched and sucked in a deep breath. I turned to the surrounding soldiers. It seems that when we cut off the Nightmare from the demons, we also cut off the control Corypheus had over the mages. I stared into the eyes of terrified men and women, who were confused and lost. Loghain was their senior ranking Warden. With him gone, they would have no one to help them rebuild.

I lifted my chin, portraying a confidence I did not feel, and said, "Inquisition?"

A scout immediately appeared at my side and I asked, "What did the Wardens do when we disappeared?"

"The warriors fought beside us," the scout confirmed.

I nodded and breathed deep before projecting my voice for all around. "The Inquisition will help, but you will not come out of this unscathed. You must help rebuild the trust with the world that you have broken."

A mix of shame and jubilation rippled across the faces I saw.

"For now, let us regroup at Skyhold," I commanded.

I would have time to collapse later. For now, I was needed.