Iselia had closed the breach and the people of Haven were celebrating. There was still much that the Inquisition needed to do, but their first order of business had been successful and for the time being it was time for revelry.

Only now a great force was approaching Haven and Cullen had yelled for all able-bodied men and women to grab for their arms in preparation of a possible attack.

Iselia found Varric, Blackwall and Dorian and they hurried to Cullen to find out just what was going on.

A runner from a nearby watchtower had raced over. There was a massive army over the mountain, a great force was coming, under no banner. They didn't know who it was or what they wanted. But a massive army approaching Haven just after they had sealed the breach? That was not good and very unlikely to be friendly.

There was a pounding at the gate and a young man's voice carried through to them. He asked to be let in, he needed to get in before the army got there.

Iselia rushed over to let the boy in. He said his name was Cole and he had come to warn them. But they probably already knew now, but he would warn them anyway. The templars were coming to kill Iselia. The Elder One was angry. Iselia had stolen his mages and the templars had gone to him, now they sought Iselia and the Inquisition's destruction.

The Elder One...

The head of the army stepped into view. One a man who Cullen recognised as an ex-templar named Samson, and a ghoulish creature... that must be the Elder One.

Cullen jumped into action. He yelled for the mages and for his men to work side by side and fight against this force. It was a massive army and the only way they could win was if they controlled the battle right from the start. He pointed at a nearby trebuchet and tasked Iselia with manning them. They would do all they could.

Everyone hurried. The mages prepared themselves, as did the soldiers and Iron Bull's mercenaries. Iselia and her small group raced to the trebuchets and got there just in time to protect them from the templars that were storming towards them.

Although clearly templars, they didn't look like any templar she had ever seen, or any many for that matter... they were affected by the red lyrium and some of them had the stuff growing out of them.

The men unleashed the first trebuchet but the second one hadn't yet fired. They said that they'd stay and keep firing while Iselia checked on the other one to see what was wrong.

What was wrong was the templars were there. Varric, Blackwall and Dorian cleared them while Iselia pulled the lever of the trebuchet herself and let the boulder loose. With both trebuchets active, an avalanche fell from the mountains and embraced the enemy with its mass.

The victory was short-lived. Suddenly a fireball flew from the sky and demolished the trebuchets in a single boom. Then a great flap of wings swooshed overhead and a bony dragon appeared.

Cullen stood gobsmacked and whispered that it couldn't be.

Iselia didn't know what he thought it was, but a dragon was being controlled by this Elder One and they needed to get the people of the village to safety.

Cullen turned to her and basically admitted defeat. They would go to the Chantry and make their last stand there. At this point, if they were going to die anyway, the enemy would have to work for it.

Despite Cullen's disheartenedness, Iselia raced around Haven and tried to help any survivors reach the Chantry. While she managed to save a few people, several others died too. She had done what she could. They raced to the Chantry.

Chancellor Roderick — assisted by the young man they had just met, Cole — gathered everyone into the Chantry. A templar had stabbed him and he was on death's door. Iselia felt no love was lost for the man, but she was sorry that he was going to die.

Cole said something about seeing a dragon just like that one in the Fade... it looked like an archdemon. Cullen quickly shut him up. He didn't care what it looked like; it was attacking them. Iselia recalled that Cullen had been involved during the blight in Ferelden ten years ago... was that why he had reacted the way he had when he saw the dragon? It looked like an archdemon?

Chancellor Roderick wanted to do one thing before he died. It was something only he knew and it had changed his position on Iselia immensely. He knew of a path out of this place that the enemy would not know. Perhaps he had survived when so many others had died, to tell Iselia, the Herald, of this path so the people could be saved.

Iselia made a decision. She would stay and distract the army outside, while Cullen got all the survivors, men and women, mage and soldier, to safety using Roderick's escape.

Cullen asked what she would do. How would she escape? She turned her back on him and did not answer. He lowered his head and suggested that maybe, just maybe, she would find a way... perhaps she would surprise them? She still did not answer. Cullen finally stopped talking and hurried to get everyone out of the Chantry.

Her small group decided to stand with her and help while the others escaped. Varric smiled and said that if there's one thing he knew, it was how to get an asshole's attention. They would need that. They needed all of the attention on them while everyone else escaped.

They fought through more red templars as they exited the Chantry and directed them away. They headed for the trebuchets again, for while a couple had fallen thanks to the dragon, there was still one... if Iselia had the time to aim it at the nearby mountain top in such a way that another avalanche fell — this time on Haven itself — the enemy would not be able to follow the escapees at all.

A great abomination of a templar arrived and fought against them. He was entirely encased in red lyrium and summoned jags of red lyrium from the ground. He was a difficult foe and while she wanted her friends to distract him so she could position the trebuchet, it was not to be. They needed all hands to defeat this monster.

Once the monster was defeated, Iselia returned to the trebuchet and positioned it, but before she could let loose the boulder the dragon descended and knocked her to the ground.

She couldn't see Dorian, Varric or Blackwall. She was alone.

The dragon circled her on one side while the so-called Elder One blocked her escape on the other side.

The creature called the mark on her hand an "anchor" and demanded she return it to him. He spiralled waves of painful magic at her and tried to tear it from her hand, but it would not budge. The mark had been made permanent.

He said that a thousand years ago he had breached the Fade to serve the Old Gods but had discovered the seat of the Maker empty. Now he was going to fill that seat in his own name... Corypheus. As for her, she was an unwitting rival thanks to the anchor, and now she would die. He threw her against the trebuchet and prepared a blast from his hand.

The trebuchet had been aimed before the dragon had stopped her. Hastily climbing to her feet, she grabbed a fallen sword and slammed it against the trebuchet to activate it. The boulder flew free and unleashed an avalanche tumbling from the nearby mountain. While the dragon and Corypheus looked up at the incoming landslide, Iselia fled as fast as she could, hoping to escape the tumbling mass.

She fell into a hole as the landslide swept across Haven and passed out from the weight of the fall.

When she awoke, her body was in agony, the mark on her hand thrummed and delivered more pain upon her, and she was cold... so very, very cold.

The Temple of Sacred Ashes was a massive construct with several tunnels that were beneath Haven itself, and she found herself in one of these tunnels now.

She stumbled through the tunnels, cold and alone, and hoped to find a way out. On her passage, wisps and spirits attacked her and she discovered she was able to control a new type of magic. She brought down the power of the Fade upon these things that dared attack her, and instantly smited them.

While that was useful, it wouldn't be if she didn't survive. She needed to get out of here. Find warmth. Shelter.

She crept through the remainder of the tunnels and soon emerged into the outside world. It was no warmer out there; it was colder, if anything.

Icicles flew through the air and smacked into her face alongside the freezing wind, wolves howled all around her heard but unseen, and the snow was so thick that each step put her knee deep in the stuff. It felt as though she had been out there for hours, perhaps even an entire day. She couldn't take it much more.

She passed what appeared to be the remainder of small camps. Maybe she was following her people's direction. Maybe she would meet up with them soon. Maybe that was wishful thinking.

More hours passed trudging and stumbling through the sludge, bereft of thought as all that consumed her was to keep moving on, when the flicker of campfires appeared in the distance. Unable to move any further, she collapsed, just as a voice she imagined was Cullen's yelled out to her as she passed out in the snow.

 

Until next time! 🐲⚔️

 

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_{All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, @kaelci and are from the game: Dragon Age: Inquisition.}