Into the Chaos

chapter twenty-nine

We battle our way to the trebuchet.

We fight the last hoard of monsters surrounding the remaining Trebuchet. Monsters. That's what they are now, right? Their will, shape, and actions taken by the lyrium. By Corypheus. Should we feel bad?

Now is not the time for moral debates.

Expecting a blast from the dragon, we shadow step out of the way.

Corypheus walks towards us, orb in hand. The dragons comes to a halt behind us.

We quickly shove our respective weapons into our bags.

"Enough! Pretender. You toy with forces beyond your ken. No more. Know me, know what you have pretended to be. Exalt the Elder One! The will that is Corypheus! You will kneel."

He walks towards me and releases magic from the orb. "It is your fault 'Herald'. You interrupted a ritual years in the planning, and instead of dying, you stole its purpose."

Another blast of energy. "I do not know how you survived, but what marks you as 'touched.' What you flail at rifts. I crafted to assault the very Heavens."

I fall to my knees in pain.

The dragon screams.

"And you used the Anchor to undo my work! The gall!" He walks forward and grabs my wrist, lifting me to eye level, "I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the Old Gods of the Empire in person. I found only chaos and corruption. Dead whispers. For a thousand years I was confused. No more. I have gathered the will to return under no name but my own. To champion withered Tevinter and correct this blighted world. Beg that I succeed. For I have seen the Throne of the Gods, and it was empty!"

He throws me against the side of the trebuchet. I can vaguely see Decius running towards me.

"The anchor is permanent. You have spoiled it with your stumbling. So be it. I will begin again, find another way to give this world the nation—and God — it requires."

An arrow shoots up in the distance. Decius helps me stand.

"And you, I will not suffer even an unknowing rival. You must die."

"Well in that case, enjoy your prize, you arrogant bastard." I say.

Decius kicks the lever and we run towards the mine shaft. Decius wraps around me as we fall so that he lands first.

I think we black out for a few minutes. When we are able to get up, the snow has settled over the top of the break in the mine.

Decius groans as he stands. "It's so dark. You said you packed the potions right? Did you happen to pack torches too?"

I go over to the corner of the room, "They're over here. Let me just..."

I cast light on a stone and give Decius a potion and take on for myself.

"Great. Let's get out of here."

"Don't forget about the wraiths. How many more can you cast?"

"I stuck to elemental things. Stuff they would recognize. I didn't use very many spells above the second level. We can Dimension Door at least part of the way."

I pick up the lit stone and start walking.

_________________

We finally make it to the exit... and can't see more than ten feet out.

"I think we should save those spells until after the storm stops. We don't want to guess wrong and there aren't invisible walls here."

"Yeah. I think that would be best. Turn right out of the tunnel. Angle a little more right at the cart. Follow the tree line. Through the canyon. They always find you a little further in than you think they should. We can do this."

"We should decide this now. Do we tell Solas what we know about him? I mean, in a way, I think he's right. The elves need some of their power back. But there's got to be a better way. You can't just rip this off like a bandaid. It would be catastrophic."

"We need to. I don't think we can change his mind without telling him we know who he is. We need to talk to Cole as well. And find something for Vivienne to do at Skyhold. Something to keep the dignitaries away from us. Then we figure out teams. In the beginning we could do two areas at once. When it's easy. Anything before the Graves and the pits in the Plains. How do we stop Wisdom from turning into Pride?"

"Another amulet?"

"Would you mind getting with Solas? He seems pretty into you. And what about specializations? We're pretty special already."

"Decius. We'll worry about specializations later. After whoever gets made Inquisitor. We have time."

"You're right. I'm overthinking it. Let's just make it through tonight. We tell Solas before we get to Skyhold. Preferably at the brazier. Would you mind though?"

I think for a moment. "No. Out of everyone, I think he'd be the best for me. Out of everyone that has expressed a desire to... do something, I am surprisingly not put off by the idea. And I do like him. For numerous reasons."

"Cause he hasn't put sex on the table yet. We should get you footwraps for Halamshiral."

I roll my eyes, grab his hand, and walk into the biting wind of the storm.

_____________

We made it. It felt like hours. Days. Decius is exhausted. After the storm stopped, we started using Dimension Door to speed up the journey. We truly did fall to our knees in relief after we heard Cullen notice us.

Solas is in the group that came for us. I can tell that he's relieved. Immensely relieved.

I look into his eyes, " Don't let them give us lyrium. After we wake, after they sing, we need to talk. Find the brazier, that will be secluded enough. "

I barely have time to see Solas' eyes widen before my vision darkens.

A/N;

Shadow step - when in dim light or darkness, use a bonus action to travel up to 120ft away to a space also in dim light or darkness

Light - touch an object no larger than 10ft in dimension. For 1 hour that object sheds right light in a 20ft radius and dim light for another 20ft (light can be any color you want it to be)