"You have no idea what you have done."

Isabella opened her eyes to see a grey landscape of floating rocks and an endless void just beyond the platform she walked along. The voice boomed all around her as she turned and searched for the source. As she turned, she saw the Dread Wolf walking towards her, only to find a chasm between them.

"Solas," Isabella whispered, trying to piece together where she was and how she got there. Then the memories of the ritual and Varric flooded her mind as her clouded demeanor sharpened to a point. "I know exactly what. I stopped you from destroying the world."

"I was not destroying the world," Solas shouted as the chasm shifted, nearly catching her off balance. "Since you disrupted my ritual, I was pulled in by the magical energies surrounding it. Into the Fade."

"Alright, I get that's why you're here, but how am I here?" Isabella asked warily. She had no magical abilities; the Fade should be beyond her reach.

"You are not physically here, but your body is unconscious. The blood you shed at the ritual site was enough to make a brief connection," he answered. She frowned, wondering how he could remain so calm about this.

"So blood magic," she taunted. That poked a nerve.

"First of all, I loathe the use of blood magic, and second, if I could control you, I would have," he snapped, using the Fade to play tricks on her mind. Her eyes narrowed as his anger grew palpable.

"Alright, you want to talk? Then talk. What do you want to talk about?" Isabella nearly screamed.

"The Elven Gods. The Evanuris. The creatures that escaped when my ritual was destroyed," Solas explained, doing his best to keep control of his emotions. "They are ancient elves who saw themselves as gods, not only wanting to be worshiped but to be obeyed. When I rebelled, they drew on the blight to try enforce their will until I trapped them. However, since the ritual failed, they escaped and now I am trapped in that same prison."

"Right, because you were innocently doing nothing when we came along," Isabella bit back, rolling her eyes.

"I was moving the gods to a different prison. The one they were in was beginning to crumble."

"So, you weren't drowning the world in demons and raw magic by tearing down the Veil?"

Solas stared at her as his blood boiled beneath his skin.

"I had a plan."

"Of course you did. Varric always said you would have a grand plan and explain why none of this was never your fault," she taunted, starting to pace.

"Varric," Solas repeated, pain seeping into his voice.

"Yeah, he thought he could talk you down, you know? Everyone else wanted to see you taken down by force, but Varric wanted to try to reason with you," she continued, adding salt to the wound. "And now, because of you, Varric is hurt."

"Varric is…" Solas replied quickly before pausing. Isabella glared at him, daring him to say something nasty. "He is quite adept at hiding the truth himself."

Isabella swallowed as she worked her jaw, pursing her lips. Solas would not get a rise out of her again. She needed to be levelheaded, which she wasn't great at. Not in moments like this where everything had gone to shit. With a deep breath, she decided to change the topic to something more pressing.

"So, you said the things that got out where elvhan gods?" she asked as Solas scoffed.

"Theysaid they were gods. They were blighted, sadistic, powerful mages that believed themselves to be gods. It took everything I had to imprison them a thousand years ago, but I'm sure you will do just fine on your own," he replied, pacing in front of her. Isabella laughed, shaking her head.

"What are you? The elven god of sarcasm?" she mocked, watching as he nearly cracked a smirk.

"Lies, treachery, and rebellion. Depending on the story, of course," he retorted before shrugging. "But I can hardly help without the use of my ritual dagger or my network of mirrors. The only thing I can offer is what I know."

"That's rich coming from the god of, and I am quoting you now, lies, treachery, and rebellion," she countered, placing her hands on her hips. Maker, she would like to wake up now.

"Depending on the story," he reminded before he waved his hand. "Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain are your problem to solve now. I wish you the best of luck."

~C~

Isabella woke with a start as the memories of Solas and the ritual came back to her. She held her head in her hands as she heard voices of Varric and Solas arguing and shouting. Even dream Solas's voice came through to torment her. However, something told her that it wasn't a dream she had experienced. It had felt more real than a dream, but she would need to fact-check what she had learned to be certain.

"Well, look who returned to the land of the living," a familiar voice called out, startling her. Isabella glanced around, confused by her surroundings. She was in a new place, but it looked like an infirmary, which was a good sign. She had hit her head hard. "Rook?"

"Varric?" Isabella whispered, turning to see a beat up but very much alive Varric sitting in a bed across from her. His face was bruised, and he had a broken leg and possibly a broken arm judging by the sling. "What? But I saw Solas stab you."

"Trust me, kid, it'll take a lot more to keep me down," he chuckled and winced. Isabella frowned, wondering if maybe her memories weren't as clear since she had hit her head. She could have sworn the blade had gone through his chest cavity. He was lucky it hadn't pierced his heart.

"I should've come up with a different plan, dropping that statue-" Isabella started before Varric hushed her.

"You did the best you could under the circumstances, and the world isn't swimming in demons. I would call that a win," Varric reassured as Isabella's eyes teared up. To see him so beat up was hard.

"There were better options, I'm sure," she argued as he shook his head.

"Everyone made it out. Neve and Harding are fine, too. Just because I got a little beat up doesn't mean you failed. You succeeded as far as I'm concerned," he informed as she pressed her lips together.

"So, what now? Solas is trapped in the Fade and the ritual has been stopped, but two creatures got out. Two elven gods," she continued before Varric held up his hand.

"Rook, you've got this," Varric reassured as the doors opened.

Isabella stood up a little straighter to see Harding stumble in. The Crow swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw the black eye and stitches over the scout's face. She just had to remember that Harding was alive, and that the world wasn't drowning in demons. The Veil was intact, and Isabella had completed her contract. However, something told her she couldn't just waltz back home just yet.

"Oh, sorry, just looking for elfroot," Harding remarked, touching the side of her head. Isabella looked away and nodded.

"Of course, whatever you need. I should stretch my legs," Isabella muttered as she slowly stood up from the cot. Harding hummed as she found the herb.

"You should and watch your step. On top of everything, the eluvian took us to the Fade. The place where magic and dreams come from," Harding informed as the Crow stared at her.

"We're not in Minrathous?"

"Unfortunately not."

"Then I really need to take a look around," Isabella grumbled, running a hand through her hair.

"You should also talk to Neve when you get a chance. We should talk about next steps," the scout offered as Isabella smirked.

"Of course."

"There's a table at the bottom of the stairs. I'll meet you both there."

Isabella gave a quick nod as she left the room, noticing that Varric had turned over to nap. The larger room, the one with the table as Harding described, had a lot of floating bookcases. She grimaced, wondering why they floated and what would cause them to stop floating. Once she was sure it was safe to walk under them, she found the doors leading out of the round building.

Stepping into the Fade was fascinating. Everything was floating, and yet gravity somehow still worked. She wondered if she should ask Neve to explain why, but she had a feeling that either answer wouldn't be enough, or the answer would cause a headache. Still, the view was magnificent and something she wouldn't soon forget.

"Look who's up and about," Neve smiled from across the courtyard. Isabella smiled, walking over to the mage. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a got ran over by a carriage, but I'll live. How are you doing?"

"Could be better but could be worse too."

"Harding said we should talk and discuss next steps," Isabella mentioned as Neve nodded.

"She's not wrong. A lot has changed since we met, we need to figure out what comes next. I'll meet you inside if you want to spend another moment out here."

"I'll meet you inside then. Having a moment to collect my thoughts would be good," Isabella answered. Neve nodded before she left. The Crow watched as Neve opened the door.

Once the door closed, Isabella scanned for the tallest thing she could climb or at least get to. Something where the other two couldn't reach. She held no ill will towards Harding or Neve, but she needed time to think. She found a ledge above the mess hall and crawled into the corner high above, feeling the comfort of the cold stone against her back.

Her contract said to stop Solas and his ritual, and she did. The deal was done. However, the mention of ancient, blighted mages acting like gods wandering around Thedas was enough to give her pause. If she didn't do something, who would? No one else knows what those creatures are, and only four of them know that they're even in Thedas. Plus, only three of them can actively do anything about it with Varric bedridden until further notice.

The only answer her fried brain could come up with would be to make another contract. She would need to find a client, and she wasn't even sure who that would be. Would the Talons issue such a thing? Would Viago order her back home? She was still under his jurisdiction, and there would be fatal consequences if she tried to run away. She doubted that he would order her to stay in Treviso. He could never show such favoritism so blatantly in front of the other Talons. Of course, the banishment probably led people to think that anyway.

Isabella brought her knees up to her chin as she sighed. She was going to have to consider this an extension of the contract. Viago would understand, and he would likely support her thinking as well. Plus, if a de Riva put down two blighted mages, that would be one for the history books for House de Riva. She could even keep masquerading as Rook so the fame really only stays with de Riva instead of with her.

However, before she could even begin to think about possibly extending her contract, they needed to figure out how to get out of the Fade and back home. With the eluvian only taking them to Arlathan, that would be tricky, but Harding mentioned that they should go anywhere in Thedas. Perhaps there was a way to fix it. After that, then they can start to figure out what to do. Maybe build a team to hunt blighted mages.

With the beginnings of a plan, Isabella climbed down from her perch and returned to the library where Neve and Harding were chatting. They paused and stared at her when she sat down, giving a slight smile.

"Alright, so what do we know?" Neve asked.

"Well, we stopped the ritual, I know that. Demons aren't swarming everywhere," Harding mentioned as they nodded.

"But I saw something come out of that tear in the Veil," Neve added as Isabella sighed.

"I can shed some more light on that," Isabella grimaced before explaining Solas existing inside her head. It had gone over about as well as she had expected.

"So, Solas is using blood magic like any normal mage," Neve griped sarcastically as Harding frowned.

"That's dangerous, he's able to kill you through your dreams," Harding warned, unsure on how to prevent that. Isabella shrugged before shaking her head.

"I think I'm okay on that front. He can yell and complain at me, but that's about it. He's trapped in the same prison that held those two creatures that you saw come out," Isabella explained before going into more detail about the two blighted gods. Both women paled as the Crow finished her story.

"Alright, so we have two blighted ancient mages who think they're gods. What do we do about that?" Neve groaned. "We need to get out there and get more information."

"People are going to die if we just snoop around. We need to act," Harding countered before Isabella shook her head.

"Neve's right, we can't just jump into a fight against these two. It took everything Solas had to imprison them in the Veil. We need to get more information before we just chase after them. We need to know what we're up against," Isabella insisted as Harding nodded once. "But we can't do that from here. Do we know if the eluvian is still working?"

"Seems so, even if it still only goes to Arlathan," Neve complained as the Crow bit her lip.

"Maybe we can find help there. Maybe something at the ritual site could help?" Isabella suggested before she shrugged. "I think we should get suited up and check out what's going on. Then we can figure out who to recruit from there."

"Recruit?" Harding repeated as Isabella nodded.

"If we mean to fight these blighted mages, our small team isn't going to be enough. We'll need experts and specialists, but first we need to figure out what kind we need," Isabella clarified as she stood. "Let's get to Arlathan, get as many answers as we can find, and go from there."

"I suppose it's a good a plan as any," Neve replied, placing her coffee cup down on the table. Isabella nodded before she went to grab her leathers as the other two left.

~C~

Neve was correct and the eluvian did take them back to Arlathan forest. Isabella walked out of the mirror first, her bow drawn tight with an arrow prepped. The chaos of the ritual was gone, leaving a peaceful scene before them. She glanced around as the other two followed through.

The peace did not last long as they heard shouting and metallic thumping rushing towards them. Isabella's arrow flew true as she aimed at the metal golem, but it deflected off the metal as it hacked toward the elves running from it. She frowned, grabbing another arrow, just as one of the elves broke the artifact the other held. The artificial creature groaned as the magic dissipated before crashing to the ground.

Isabella stood, staring at the elves as they gathered themselves. Harding brightened and approached the two left standing, letting Isabella take a step back.

"Strife, Irelin! It's so good to see you," the scout exhaled before glancing back at her companions. "Rook, Neve, this is Strife and Irelin. They are Arlathan Veil Jumpers."

"A pleasure," Isabella replied with a courteous bow. Neve gave a tight smile as Strife's face hardened.

"Varric and I met a little while back when we were first looking for Solas," Harding explained before turning back to Strife. The elder elf sighed and nodded.

"I thought you were going to put a stop to his ritual," he commented harshly.

"We did. I don't see us drowning in demons after all," Isabella reminded before she could hold her tongue. If Strife was going to give her grief, then she was going to deliver it right back.

"I sense there's a 'but' in there," he added as she gave a curt nod.

"We did stop Solas from completing the ritual, but something happened. He was sucked into the Fade, and two someones got out," Isabella informed bitterly, shaking her head. She couldn't believe that she was going to say this. Gods were supposed to be fairytales.

"Who got out?" Irelin asked as Isabella hesitated a moment too long.

"Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, two of the Evanuris," the Crow answered sourly. A silence fell over the Veil Jumpers as the news set in.

"Two of our old gods," Irelin hissed, covering her mouth in horror. Strife cursed under his breath, shaking his head.

"Look, Fen'Harel might have been bad, but he had his reasons. He is nothing compared to the horrors of the rest of the Evanuris," Strife explained, shaking his head. "There was a reason he rebelled so heavily against them."

"What are we going to do?" Irelin asked Strife.

"We-" Harding started before groaning in pain. Isabella snapped her attention to her scout, noticing that she was now pushing herself too hard. Seeing how the other Jumpers had faired too, a plan formed in Isabella's head.

"First things first, we need to get a handle on what we're up against, and we can't do that with our eluvian broken," she began before Irelin brightened.

"Find Bellara Lutare, she's our artifact expert. She's out on a mission right now, but if anyone can fix your eluvian, it'll be her," the Jumper informed.

"Alright then. In that case, Neve and I will-" Isabella began as Harding shook her head.

"You're not leaving me behind," the scout spat, narrowing her eyes. The Crow nodded once.

"I'm not, I need you to help the Jumpers back to their camp. They need your sharp eye to get them back safely," Isabella informed. Harding wasn't one to stand by the sidelines, even if she needed a rest. Something that they both had in common.

"Fine, since theyneedme," the scout relented, still not sounding thrilled.

"And while you are on your way back, Neve and I will find Bellara. We will meet you back at the camp, and we can go over everything else," Isabella suggested. The rest of the group agreed, while somewhat hesitantly, before Isabella got a better idea of where Bellara had gone.