Into the Chaos

Chapter Forty-Nine

A while later the three of them come back, looking slightly more worse for wear than they were when they left.

"...What happened?"

Cassandra says, "The spirit wanted us to take care of a rage demon. We did, it was satisfied, and the spirit went back to its domain within the fade."

"I'm glad you're all okay but why didn't you come get me?"

"We stopped by but you seemed a little engrossed in whatever you were doing."

"I was but I won't get anywhere with this one. I would have come without complaint."

"Precisely why we didn't ask."

Right. 'Cause that makes all the sense in the world to me. "No use in worrying about it now, I suppose. Did you find anything in the mayor's house?"

"There was a curious document. It makes sense knowing what you told us but there is no context to hold him to anything with that."

I cringe slightly as I see an arc of lightning in the distance. "Hmm. Alright. I suspect we'll find more once we go tell him the job's done." I stare tensely, uncomfortably, at the sky until the thunder sounds.

There are no voices this time.

I feel my shoulders drop as Solas nods in agreement with my statement.

"Okay. Shall we go find some caves?

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We stand at the base of the ladder that led into the caves. There is no light except for what's coming through the ladder opening. While it's no issue for the three elves in the party, Cassandra is at a disadvantage. Wordlessly she pulls out a torch and has Solas light it.

"Let's be done with this," I say, heading down the ramp deeper into the caves.

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Ten sconces later, we come to an area with rotting corpses.

"He—he didn't even give them a chance. Caged them and killed them."

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Down further, we find zombies munching on more bodies. THey were most likely controlled by the nearby despair demon.

Looking around, there are broken pieces of pots and urns. Some boxes. People living down here. How far up the caves did they come before they got here? If the ones near the top didn't make it, these didn't stand a chance.

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Solas whistles as we reach the dwarven ruined. "The runes have still held. That is quite the feat."

There are more bodies and belongings scattered around. Though, significantly less than before. In the rooms themselves there are decaying books.

Cassandra asks, "are we in the Deep Roads?"

"I doubt we are even as deep as Orzammar. Didn't Varric have to travel for weeks to get to the Deep Roads near Kirkwall? And the entrance in Orzammar is deeper than the rest of the city isn't it?"

"I suppose so. I just never realized how far the dwarves' empire had reached."

"I suspect that they covered the majority, if not all, of this continent. Who knows about everything else."

A few winding halls later, I can finally see the rift.

The swirling green mass cracks and sputters as we draw closer. The Anchor doing the same.

It tingles.

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A few demons, wraiths, and shades later, I am able to seal the rift.

As we stare at the no empty space, I speak. "No more undead. Hopefully."

"For your sake, I hope the storm has calmed as well." Solas says, casting a healing spell over Cassandra.

After we are healed to Solas's liking, we wander through some more halls before reaching the next artifact.

"We good to rest here for a bit?" I ask.

After a moment of no objections I head over to the object of interest.