The Lion of the Inquisition

The Breach

Cullen awoke to the sounds of shouts and screams all around him. He gingerly sat up and rubbed his eyes. What he saw when he opened his eyes was something that brought his nightmares to life. People were running around in absolute panic like the world was coming to an end. Some were frozen where they stood, staring at the sky. He looked up, his eyes widened and he hoped that they were playing tricks on him.

Where the Temple once stood, a green beacon reached towards a tear in the heavens. He swore he could see shadows circling it. Just looking at it, sent shivers down his spine. There appeared to be nothing left of the Temple.

He shook his head and knew that now there was work to be done. He carefully stood up, checking himself for injuries. After finding none, he looked around, trying to find his second in command. He saw Jhaxon speaking to Lady Cassandra and Leliana, having to shout to be heard over the rabble. They all jumped when he walked up and cleared his throat.

"Commander, thank the Maker you are all right," Leliana sighed with relief. "Jhaxon said that you disappeared right before the Breach opened."

The Breach, he thought to himself, that is putting it lightly.

"Does anyone know what happened," he questioned. "Do you think anyone survived?"

Everyone looked to Cassandra, who let out a shaky breath.

"We can only pray that no one was in or near the Temple when it exploded," she replied, gripping her sword hilt till her knuckles turned white.

"Has anyone in the Valley been injured," he asked, trying to break everyone out of the state of shock that they were in. "We have to try to calm everyone and then make a rescue attempt."

Josephine shivered and seemed to come out of a trance. She straightened her garb and tablet. "I will stay here with the Revered Mother and the clerics. We will try to calm whoever has remained behind and check for injuries and casualties. I think the three of you need to leave as soon as possible."

They all looked at each other and nodded. If there were any survivors, they need to get to them and provide whatever help they could. It felt like something clicked and everyone knew exactly what needed to be done.

"Jhaxon, gather up our best soldiers and get them armed. Make sure that some remain behind to help the ambassador with damage control," he commanded.

Jhaxon took off like the wind.

"I will go and round up as many bandages and healing herbs as I can from the apothecary. I will also bring my quickest scouts and send them on ahead to make sure the path is clear for us," Leliana said before taking off at a sprint towards the gates.

Cullen looked at Cassandra with concern in his eyes. Something doesn't seem right with her, he thought.

"Lady Cassandra, is everything all right," he whispered.

She paused before she turned to him with fire in her eyes. "I will find the person responsible for this and make them pay for what they have done." She then punched one of the nearby practice dummies, knocking it clean off its post.

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The rescue party was making it's way towards the mountain with as much haste as they could muster. There were moments when the ground would quack and the beacon above would flash so bright that they would see spots once it was done.

"It's getting larger," Leliana said under her breath so that only Cullen could hear her.

Before he could say something, he heard a crackling noise. He raised his fist to stop and silence everyone. What he heard brought back such horrid memories of that night in the Circle Tower so many years ago. He motioned to Leliana to follow him and they crept towards the sound, hunched over with weapons drawn. When they came to the clearing, they saw what seemed to be a smaller version of the Breach and there were demons roaming around it. They looked at each other and slowly retreated, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. From there they ran back to the party.