When the bout was over, Solas ushered the group over in the direction the spirit had disappeared from. "Come. Real or not, the Divine is the key to escaping from the Fade."
Soon enough, the Nightmare resumed its taunting. "Warden Stroud. How must it feel to devote your whole life to the Wardens, only to watch them fall? Or, worse, to know that you are responsible for their destruction? When the next Blight comes, will they curse your name?"
Stroud marched forward, unrelenting. "With the Maker's blessing, we will end this wretched beast. I see the spirit ahead of us. Let us hope it is guiding us in the right direction."
As the group approached the spirit, the Nightmare tried again. "Do you think you can fight me? I am your every fear come to life! I am the Veiled hand of Corypheus himself! The demon army you fear? I command it. They are bound all through me!"
"Ah, so if we banish you, we banish the demons?" The spirit mused. "Thank you, every fear come to life."
The Nightmare made a frustrated noise in response, and went quiet for a time.
The party made its way into a boggy, partially-flooded area. The ground gave way to shallow pools of black water, lined with thick red brambles, and as their boots splashed through the wetness, there were faint echoes of screams, pleas for help and pained moans. The band of demons waiting for them were harder to fight- despair demons, spindly terrors, even a hulking pride demon. Eventually their spirit guide revealed itself at the entrance to a tunnel, and they followed its beckoning.
"You must get through the rift, Inquisitor!" The spirit urged as they wound their way through the tunnel. "Get through and then slam it closed with all your strength. That will banish the army of demons, and exile this cursed creature to the farthest reaches of the Fade."
The mouth of the dark tunnel opened up, and the light from the Rift, now close at hand, shone through.
"The rift! We're almost there!" Hawke exclaimed, but Cassandra hefted her shield up higher.
"We're not there yet. Stay alert!"
She had spoken not a moment too soon. At first, there appeared to be many spiny pillars jutting out of the bedrock, as they did in other sections the party had passed by before. Until these ones shifted slightly. Outside the tunnel, in the strange light of the Fade, it became clear that these 'pillars' made up an enormous behemoth of a malformed spider, blocking the way to the Rift, and in front of it, a more humanoid aspect floated, its eyeless face grinning menacingly at the group as it moved towards them.
Faces paled, and everyone began to form up, ready to fight. Then, the spirit flew past them, addressing Ellethir as it passed by, its voice resonating as it glowed brighter. "If you would, please tell Leliana, 'I am sorry. I failed you, too.'"
Arcs of light energy flew into the humanoid aspect of the Nightmare, temporarily flinging it out of the way as the spirit confronted the behemoth, bathing it in light and rendering both too bright to see. The humanoid aspect recovered itself quickly, charging at the party.
The Nightmare hurled threats as it darted from behind boulders, slashing and clawing and then disappearing and reappearing behind another foe. "You will die in agony!"
It summoned minor fears to descend from the cliffs, and demons to spring up from the ground. "I grow fat on your fear!"
Streams of blood began pouring from the sky, quickly forming brackish puddles to avoid. "You cannot stand against me!"
Eventually, Ellethir managed to catch its side with the blade end of her staff as she whirled around to face it, and it screeched as it disappeared in smoke.
"Come on!" Ellethir ran towards the Rift, and turned to check the others were following.
"Watch out!" Blackwall yelled, and Ellethir leapt out of the way just in time as a colossal spider leg descended, the major aspect of the Nightmare visible once again, and the spirit guide nowhere to be seen. Ellethir backed up towards the rest of the group, staring helplessly up at the creature between them and the Rift.
"We need to clear a path!" Stroud yelled over the roar of streams of blood, still pouring from the sky.
"Go! I'll cover you," Hawke called back.
"No! You were right. The Grey Wardens caused this. A Warden must—"
"A Warden must help them rebuild! That's your job! Corypheus is mine."
Fae pushed her way to the front of the group. "Hawke, no!"
But Hawke had already begun running towards the creature, staff raised, magic crackling. Suddenly, Hawke ran straight into an invisible wall of force, her staff sputtering as whatever spell she was about to cast faltered.
She turned back towards Fae. "What are you doing?!"
Fae was leaning on her staff, hand raised, keeping the barrier up. "Merrill needs you! Varric needs you, I need you!"
Ellethir began hurrying the rest of the group under the belly of the beast as it watched the two mages curiously with its many sparkling eyes.
"We don't have time for this! We have to go, now!" Stroud commanded, grabbing Fae by the arm and dragging her towards the Rift, where the others had already begun leaping through one by one. Fae kept her other hand raised, and the barrier between Hawke and the Nightmare remained.
"Hawke, NO! I won't let you throw your life away!" Fae screeched.
"Throw my life away?! This is what my life is FOR!" Hawke screamed back, and Fae's barrier faltered.
"What?!" The barrier dropped, and Hawke barrelled towards them, the blade on her staff slicing through the underbelly of the Nightmare. The Nightmare shrieked angrily, legs twitching as it shuddered and began preparing to strike.
"No," Stroud said. "It's what my life is for. For the Wardens!" In one quick movement, his hand reached out and snatched Hawke by the shoulder, pushing her past him and using the momentum to leap at the Nightmare while Hawke stumbled, unbalanced for a moment.
"Stroud!" Fae cried out, barely taking a step towards him when something wrapped around her waist and pulled, light blinding her once more.
And just like that, she was back in Adamant, surrounded by the snarls of demons and the metal ringing of swords. As the Iron Bull relinquished his grasp and set her on her feet, Fae watched, dumbstruck, as Ellethir leapt out of the Rift with Hawke in tow, and with the Anchor, snapped the Rift closed. Sparks flew and struck down the remaining demons, and a cheer rose from the soldiers surrounding them.
Hawke was glaring daggers at Fae, marching straight towards her.
"Stroud…" Fae gasped, shellshocked. "What have I done?"
"What have you done?!" Hawke growled.
"I—I didn't mean, I didn't think he would actually—" Fae stammered, backing up one step at a time.
"He would actually what? Take my place? Spare my life for his? Isn't that what Wardens are supposed to do?" Hawke snapped sarcastically.
"Listen, Champion—"
"Stay out of this, Qunari!" Hawke barked at Bull, who put his hands up in surrender and stepped away while Hawke rounded on Fae once more.
"Hawke…"
"That demon was MINE! My fate!"
Fae's expression changed, jaw set, eyes glowering furiously. "Says who?! What was I supposed to do, Hawke? Just let you die? Let Merrill live the rest of her life without you? Let Varric lose his best friend?"
"You were supposed to let me do what needed to be done!"
"Bullshit! You think none of us have ever noticed how you risk yourself at every opportunity? How you throw yourself into battle a little too enthusiastically?!"
"You better not be saying what I think you are," Hawke warned.
"Am I wrong?! You can't just leave us, you can't do that to us!" Fae fought back.
Hawke's eyes glittered, and she suddenly backhanded Fae across the face. "And who are you to decide for me?!" There was a collective gasp from the crowd around them- the crowd that both of them, in the heat of the moment, had temporarily forgotten was there.
Fae was quiet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" she mumbled, not looking up. Hawke quickly put her hands on Fae's shoulders. "No, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have said that…" Fae simply shrugged Hawke's hands off and walked away, the crowd awkwardly parting to let her through.
Ellethir approached Hawke cautiously, and seemed about to say something, but Hawke spoke first, voice lowered. "Justinia was right. Without the Nightmare to control them, the mages are free, and Corypheus loses his demon army. Though as far as they're all concerned, the Inquisitor broke the spell with the blessing of the Maker."
Ellethir nodded slowly. "But once they understand what really happened…"
Hawke sighed deeply. "Honestly, after all the death they've seen, perhaps it would be better to let them believe the legend."
Ellethir bit her lip, but nodded once more. "I think you're right."
One of the Inquisition's scouts pushed his way through the crowd towards them. "Inquisitor," he saluted. "The Archdemon flew off as soon as you disappeared. The Venatori magister is unconscious but alive. Commander Cullen thought you might wish to deal with him yourself. As for the Wardens, those who weren't corrupted helped us fight the demons."
The nearest Warden stepped forward, giving a Warden salute. "Inquisitor. We stand ready to help make up for Clarel's… tragic mistake," he said grimly. "And… we've not seen Warden Stroud since the ledge collapsed. We assumed he was wherever you were, Inquisitor."
Ellethir looked down for a moment, steeling herself, and then addressed the crowd. "Warden Stroud died striking a blow against a servant of the Blight, and against Corypheus. We will honour his sacrifice, and remember how he exemplified the ideals of the Grey Wardens. Even as Corypheus and his servants tried to destroy you all from within."
There were a few moments of silence while this news sunk in, until the Warden spoke up again. "Inquisitor, we have no one left here of any significant rank," he admitted. "What do we do now?"
Ellethir looked around at the sea of expectant faces before her, thoughts racing. Finally, she decided. "Stroud died for the ideals of the Wardens. In war, victory- that's the saying, yes? And we are still very much at war. Do you believe the Wardens can still help?"
The Warden stood at attention. "I do, Your Worship!"
Ellethir nodded. "Then you stay and do whatever you can. You're still vulnerable to Corypheus… and, possibly, his Venatori, but there are plenty of demons that need killing."
There was a great deal of murmuring among the crowd at this proclamation, but Ellethir clacked her staff on the ground and the murmurs quieted down. "For now, the Wardens will remain here while we decide how you will help us. Everyone else, start making preparations to return to Skyhold."
A/N: Thank you for reading! Hopefully will have more chapters ready soon, schedule permitting x