Gladiator
Well-known member
I always felt he should have a had a larger part in the story of Dragon Age: Inquisition. However, he is pushed aside as an after thought and Urthemiel is unceremoniously taken care of. Change things around a bit, extend the lapse of time between the games, and give him a role in the court due his mother's position of power in Orlais? Well, I think it would have changed the story for the better. As an added bonus make him more than just a boy. Make him Urthemiel now freed of dark spawn taint for added drama.
Generally, I was thinking about something like this:
I kind of hit something of a writer's block though.
Not sure where to take it from here.
Generally, I was thinking about something like this:
It was just another nightmare. It had to be.
Those sounds of flesh being torn, and bones breaking. They weren't... real. I could feel my claws dig into their bodies. My fangs pierce through armor, and sink deeply into someone's lungs. I throw them aside. They crash into a building. How foolish of these templars. These fragile, and soft creatures.
The mages cast their spells, and hurl their fire or lightning. It does not bother me. My hide would protect me. I let loose a ghastly roar as I open my maw. I breath a gout of fire which immolates the ones standing before me. They raise their wards but it is not enough. They burn to cinders.
I unfurl my wings. My shadow extends past the horizon.
I hear them scream as the rest of their allies begin to hush. Their whispers were clear to me.
Archdemon.
No, I was no demon! I was a god! I was the oldest of dragons! I was beautiful beyond measure!
I was –no, I am!
I shake my head. I banish the nightmare.
I sit back up. I look at my surroundings. This wasn't the conclave. Where had the Temple of Sacred Ashes gone? “Is this? No, it can't be.” I had traveled here before with my mind but never with my flesh and blood. This was the fade.
The divine. What had happened to her? That darkspawn. He could speak just like the ones who drank the blood of Grey Wardens. Just like the Architect.
I flinch as I feel my left hand erupt into biting agony. An opaque light emanates from it. My memories are a jumbled mess. Who was I?
Urthemiel? No, that wasn't my name anymore.
“Kieran.” The name that mattered. Yes, that was it. I was a dragon no longer. Just a beast trapped in the body of a mortal man. “Kieran Cousland.” My father. Aedan.
My mother.
Morrigan.
Her warm smile, and her harsh lessons. The amber that was her eyes. The magic she tried to teach me. That unconditional love for someone who was once her enemy.
I did... I did horrible things.
I clench my hands so tightly that I draw blood. It was all his fault. That darkspawn masquerading as a man of reason! Oh, how I wish it was me that strangled the life from him!
“Come on, focus. This is the fade.” I repeat those words to myself. I have to get out. It wasn't safe here. That's when I hear them. The cackling of their mandibles. I turn around, and see them approaching. A veritable army of arachnids.
Great.
It just had to be spiders.
If only my mother did not enjoy their company so much.
“I swear if I get out of this alive! I am going to murder her!” Why did I even listen to that spymaster? Oh, that's right. My father said I could trust her.
Things would go smoothly, that's what she said. There was nothing that could wrong.
I am never trusting my father's friends again.
I gather the eldritch energies of the fade, and pour everything I can into my body. I hurl fireballs, and lightning bolts at the demons rushing towards me. I freeze one into a block of ice before breaking it into pieces with a backhand. I turn away from them, and start running. I wasn't a fool. I couldn't fight an army. This body was so weak.
That's when I see it. A brilliant star in the distance. A light that promised sanctuary. It had to be a spirit. I could trust them. They weren't like demons.
I reach a sharp incline, and start to climb up it. The light growing ever closer. The demons just at my back. That's when I see her. A woman in the garbs of motherhood.
Why did she look so familiar?
I reach for her hand, and that's when I grab it. There is an explosion. I lose track of time. I hit the ground with a resounding thud.
I was back home.
“Don't you dare move, you bastard!”
Naturally, I wasn't welcomed back with open arms.
The nerve of these people.
<<X>>
“I need you to explain what exactly happened.” There is something cold in the spymaster's voice. The warmth I was used to was gone. There is another woman. Whoever she was she manages to grab a hold of me before the spymaster could stop her.
“What did you do!” I could see the fury in her eyes. “How did you open the breach?”
“I don't even know what you're talking about!” I scrunch my face in annoyance. “Where is the divine?” I remember rushing when I heard her cries for help. Then there was nothing.
“...” The woman's face is marred by a flash of rage that dashes across it. “The divine is dead.”
“What?” I couldn't hide the surprise in my voice. “I saw her! The divine was alive--” That was her voice. I was sure of it.
“The divine is dead, and it's your fault!” The moment the woman tries to grab me again she is stopped by the spymaster.
“He did not do this, Cassandra!”
“How can you know that?”
The two women seem to break into an argument with each other.
“I've known him since he was a child! If he was lying I would know!” That's right. The wet nurse. It was her. How could I forget that? “You know who I am. If I thought for a moment that it was him he would already be dead.”
It had to be this mark. My head felt like it was about to explode. It was the worst headache I had in a while. Almost as horrible as when I was under the influence of the corruption.
“Leliana, what is going on?” I was sent here as an ambassador from Orlais. My mother couldn't spare any of her attention for the conclave. So, I was sent instead. I was supposed to be her eyes and ears.
“He has to see it for himself.” The spymaster turns around, and begins to leave. “Please, understand. What has happened here has hurt us all.” The red-head leaves without a moment's notice. That was the only answer that she could give me.
The other woman picks me up, and grabs me by the shackles around my hands. “We have to move quickly.”
“What is the breach? What happened to the divine?” I was starting to get angry. Someone had died on my watch. I wanted to butcher whoever was responsible. If I still had my claws, and my fangs? I would have torn them apart.
“You will see soon enough.” The seeker doesn't say anything else. I am dragged out of the prison, and upstairs to a chantry. The priests and clerics look at me like I am some sort of monster.
They weren't exactly wrong.
The moment the front door is slammed open, and I am dragged out? I see it for the first time.
The breach.
“That's impossible...” How many years had it been since I had seen something like this? It was before human beings came to Ferelden. When the fade wasn't some sort of separate realm but rather a state of nature. Just like the weather. It was as natural as breathing back in those days. There were spirits everywhere. Thankfully, there weren't that many demons.
It couldn't be the Evanuris. They disappeared the moment the veil was erected. Their cities that were reliant on it were destroyed, and so were their libraries. No, not even the immortality of the elves remained once the fade was torn away from the world.
“Yet, it remains to be a fact. There is a hole in the sky, and you are only the one who can close it.”
I look at the seeker like she was completely insane.
“I can't close that.” If I mustered that much magical energy my body would burst into flame, or explode. It couldn't handle the sort of power I had. If I wasn't careful with how much I used? I could burn my mortal body out, or worse. I wasn't a dragon anymore.
I grunt in pain, and that's when the mark spreads even further.
“Yes, you can. That mark on your hand? It has something to do with the breach. It might even be the only way we can stop this.” The woman grabs my hand, and forces me to look at it.
This was the same as before. The mark. That breach. The fade coming back.
I heard whispers of it even back then. Of a hero who fought back against the Evanuris.
The Dread Wolf.
It didn't concern me, or the other dragons. That was the business of the elves. It had nothing to do with us but those cocky upstarts thought they could use us like weapons.
We were forces of nature. The gall of those elves to think that they could control us.
The Evanuris deserved their punishment, and so did the rest of their people. They grew decadent and corrupt. Just like the Tevinter Imperium. They thought that their magic made them into gods.
“I don't know what it is, or why it's even there! I don't even remember who put this cursed thing on my hand!” I grit my teeth. The pain was excruciating.
“It does not matter now. The only thing that matters is that it's the only thing that may be able to get you out of this situation alive. The people here have already decided on your guilt. If you wish to prove them wrong? The breach must be closed.” The seeker reaches for a key, and unlocks the shackles. They drop to the ground with a thud.
I frown. I could have broken out of them regardless. I might have been weaker in this body but it was forced to accommodate my soul. It grew hardier, and stronger as a result. A qunari would be hard pressed to match my brute strength.
“Oh, is that all? Just close that humongous hole in the fabric of reality! That sounds positively easy. I can't wait.”
The woman gives me a dirty look before making a peculiar noise. Which I could never mistake for anything but disgust. “Be that as it may? You have no choice.”
“Good to know. Anyway, lets go and get ourselves killed. I am sure it will be fun.” I rub my wrists. “Just so you know? I hate you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
<<X>>
It wasn't a great day. No, in fact it was a pretty bad day. A very, very no good bad day. The sort of apocalyptic bad day that makes you rethink your decisions in life. Such as accepting your mother's proposition that you could work the game in your favor. Oh, boy. What a mistake that was.
Orlais had a particular knack for political maneuvering, and murder. More often than not? At the same time. It was great if I was being honest with myself. It got the dragon blood flowing.
By that I mean spilling. On the ground.
After a failed assassination attempt because you slept with someone's mother, and they didn't take kindly to the fact that you boasted of it in their face.
It wasn't my fault that she spread her legs. That was her decision. I did enjoy that decision though. I enjoyed it a lot. My mother did not, and bless her black heart, was furious the following day because I ruined one of her own schemes in my dalliance. Apparently, my liaison's dearest son was an asset. A sort of informant for my mother. Which probably means that he was spying on someone for her.
I ruined a lot of things that day. Now how could I make it up to her?
“You're going to the conclave in my stead, do you understand that?”
“No, I don't. I want nothing to do with those imbeciles.”
My answer was as such. My mother's response? Well, it wasn't really a response perse. It was more hands on, and involved transforming into a giant spider.
That always convinced me real quickly.
Now where was I? Demons. A lot of them. They were nasty.
“Get behind me!”
Correction, they are nasty. I hide behind the seeker, and let her do the fighting. It all happened as we tried to cross a bridge.
Only for a meteorite to strike it. That's when those demons decided that we had it easy for too long.
“You know, it would help if I had a weapon!” The truth was that I didn't need one. As a mage I would simply blast these demons to smithereens with a fireball. The problem was that this woman was already on edge. I didn't want her starting a lynch mob. “A sword, or a shield? Heck, I am fine with a bludgeon! Anything, really? No, okay.”
The seeker ignores my complaints.
I look around for anything. Oh, yes. I practically purr when I see a couple of knives. They weren't anything fancy. Just deadly in their efficiency, and made out of the best iron you could find around these mountains.
They would work perfectly for me. I roll out of the way, and grab them. They feel just right in my hands. The second a demon of rage pounces on me? I am already swinging the knives through the air. I stab the beast in what would be its kidneys if it had them. I chuckle. Yes, I liked these blades.
I need not a sword or a shield. Just give me a knife to slip between someone's ribs, and I am content.
I snap out of my daze, and turns towards the next demon that approaches me. I rush towards it, and jump into the air. I bring the knives down its head, and impale it from both sides. It was with a sickening twist that I tear its head away, and that's when it dissolves.
“What do you think you're doing? Put those things down!”
“What? Oh, come on! I need a weapon! At least give me that.”
I was getting nowhere with this seeker.
“...” Cassandra sheathes her sword, and seems to mull on it for a few seconds. “You are not wrong. Alright, you can keep them. It's not like I can protect you by myself. Not with all of these demons attacking us.”
I exhale in relief. That was one problem solved.
“Where are we going exactly?”
“The Temple of Sacred Ashes, or at least what's left of it.”
I twirl the knives around, and march ahead of her.
“That's what I wanted to do anyway.” I had to make sure. The divine would only be dead once I saw her corpse.
The seeker chuckles at that.
“I thought you said this was suicide?”
“It is but that doesn't mean I will go down without a fight.”
The robust woman nods her head. That was something she could respect.
“So, Cassandra... I am guessing you have a surname?”
“Pentaghast.”
I nod my head. Now it made sense. Cassandra Pentaghast. The dragon slayer. That made things more complicated. Well, it's not like I am a dragon anymore. So, I shouldn't count.
Probably. Maybe. Okay, she didn't exactly give me a good first impression.
The fact she nearly strangled me earlier doesn't help. How exactly could I get on her good side?
“Pentaghast, huh? I heard that your family had a habit of hunting dangerous game.” I wonder how many of my kind her family slaughtered. It was a morbid sort of curiosity. “Dragons are quite fierce. Did you ever indulge in those traditions?”
“When I was a girl? Yes, I wanted that more than anything else.” Cassandra Pentaghast took the lead, and marched ahead of me. “That changed. Now I am what you see.” The seeker seems to slow down, and wait for something. That's when she looks back at me.
“Kieran Cousland. I have heard that your father is--”
“Yes, the Hero of Ferelden. The Grey Warden Commander, and many other titles besides that.”
It was always annoying when someone brought him up. The only reason people ever did was to praise my bloodline, or my lineage.
“Why were you even at the conclave?”
“I was sent to spy on the proceedings by my mother.”
The seeker dramatically pauses at that, and turns around to face me.
“You know that it is not wise to be so frank about that?”
“Well, I thought you would like some honesty. I find that extends the livelihood of captives a lot more than being stubborn or obstinate.” I frown at that. “Besides, I didn't want to be here anyway. My mother forced me into this at the threat of being fed to gargantuan arachnids.”
“I doubt your mother would have actually done that.”
“Ah, you see! That's how I know you never met her!”
I hum, and muse on what I should say next.
“Morrigan is a witch, and a mage of some repute. I was raised in Orlais by her. Hence, the accent if you haven't already noticed?” I approach the woman. “My mother even has the ear of Celene Valmont as her Arcane Adviser.” I tilt my head. “That's the whole story. I didn't come here planning to destroy the temple, or to assassinate anyone. I was meant to gather information.”
“Say I believe you? That doesn't change the fact that you are a spy.”
“No, it does not. However, a spy will live much longer than a mass murderer.”
The dragon slayer scrunches her face in disgust.
“So, is that your only concern? Your life after everything you have seen?”
“It's my primary concern but not my only one. I won't lie, and say I care about most of the people who died. I didn't even know them. They were nameless, and faceless to me.” I smirk, and give her a wry look. “However, I do know Leliana. They broke my phoenix's heart.” It becomes a vicious grin. “That means every single one of the conspirators responsible for this? They die in the most gruesome way I can imagine. Their suffering will be legendary, and I will present their remains to her.”
The seeker backs away, and looks unnerved by what I just said.
“How exactly do you know her?”
“Oh, I know everything about her. I am sure you know she traveled with my father when he saved everyone from the blight? Well, they kept in contact afterwards. That songbird raised me when my mother could not.” There is a warm grin plastered on my face. “I would call her family if I could but things are never so simple.”
“That's the first I have heard of it.”
“Then perhaps you did not know every one of her secrets. Her role is that of a spymaster, right? I imagine it comes with the territory.”
The seeker shakes her head.
“I don't believe you.”
“You can ask her yourself in that case.”
<<X>>
It was when we were finally making progress that we saw them, and the rift. That unnatural tear into the fade. The demons were pouring out from it in droves.
It sent shivers down my spine. They didn't always exist. In the past they were spirits just fulfilling a role prescribed to them. A harmless natural occurrence in nature.
It couldn't stay that way because of people. They would always turn them away from their purpose, and being torn from this earth did nothing to help in that regard. They were lost in the fade, and many were driven into madness. They became the first demons.
At least from my understanding the veil played a significant role in bolstering their numbers. There are many spirits who only wish to return.
It doesn't always work out.
“Hey, we could use some help here!” A dwarf was firing at them with the strangest crossbow I had ever seen. It shot much faster than normal, and almost seemed to automatically reload. The demons were being peppered with arrows. They were indistinguishable from pincushions by the time he was done.
“The rift must be closed!” There was an elf who was hurling spears of ice, and fireballs at the demons. “Push them back, and use the mark!” He turns his head my way, and looks desperate.
I jump into the fray. My knives stabbing into the nearest demon. The seeker was beside me, and kept my flank covered. A beast of a demon rams into her shield only to recoil, and be hurled backwards.
“Uh, how exactly do I use the mark again?” I wave my hand in the general direction of the rift, and nothing happens. I could feel my face scrunch in frustration as I tried to focus on it. “Nope, nothing.”
There is a resounding clang behind me as the seeker pushes another demon over the cliff. It screeches in anger, and with a sickening crunch dies when it hits the ground.
As I was distracted I didn't notice another rage demon approaching me from behind. I could feel claws dig into my back, and I let loose a guttural growl. It didn't sound human. It sounded like a dragon.
That takes the demon aback. That hesitation was all that I needed. I reach behind, and grab it. I heft it over my shoulder, and force it into the ground. Before I lift my foot, and crush the demon's skull beneath my heel.
I reach for my daggers, and throw them into the nearest demons. The blades implanting themselves into their foreheads.
I was out of ideas. I grit my teeth, and gather what magic I could. My fingers crackle with electricity, and I let loose a storm of lightning bolts. They disperse the demons, and give us some much needed breathing room.
The seeker is fast, and grabs me the moment I have finished.
“You're a mage! Why didn't you tell me?”
“Yes, I am! We can talk about that later! I have a rift to close! Now move!”
I stomp towards it, and wave my hand. Nope, it wasn't working.
The elf rolls his eyes, and grabs my hand.
There was sudden, explosive sensation of pain as something shot out from the mark. It punctured the rift as magical energy erupted from my hand. It lasts for several moments before the rift closes.
“So, that's how it works?” I look at my hand, and then give the elf another glance. How did he know? “Who are you, exactly?”
The elf leans against his staff, and tilts his head.
“I am the person who saved your life. That mark was killing you earlier.”
It was? I frown, and turn back towards the seeker.
“His name is Solas, and he is an apostate.”
“I can introduce myself, Cassandra.”
He coughs, and bows his head.
“It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Yes, I am guessing you already know my name.”
He smirks, and looks elsewhere.
“The spymaster—Leliana, I believe—wouldn't stop pestering me about your condition. Kieran Cousland. The firstborn of the Hero of Ferelden.”
The dwarf whistles at that.
“That's quite the pedigree you got there.”
“Please don't remind me.”
I turn towards the rogue.
“Well, then. I know his name.” I look the dwarf up, and down. I eye the crossbow. “What is her name?”
“Her?” The dwarf smirks at that. “What makes you say it is a her?”
“I have seen a lot of men handle weapons before. They only hold it the way you do when it is a her.”
I extend my hand, and he takes it. The dwarf has a firm handshake.
“Bianca. That's her name.” The dwarf nods his head. “Varric Tethras at your service. A merchant by trade, and an unwanted tag-along by circumstance.” He smirks at the seeker. There was a history there.
Cassandra Pentaghast scrunches her face in disgust, and looks away from him.
“You know, your kind used to be taller.” They were titans before the veil was erected. Now they were but shadows of their former selves.
The dwarf gives me a weird look. “What's that supposed to mean?”
“He isn't exactly wrong.” Solas smiles, and almost seems to know what I am talking about.
The dwarf looks between us, and gives us both a curious glance.
“In my travels in the fade? I saw what dwarves once were. They eclipsed any other being barring dragons of course. Now they have grown to be relatively... short.”
The dwarf chuckles at that. “Isn't that a damn shame? I could have been taller.”
“Trust me, it's better this way.” They were fierce but bereft of reason. “Better to be short, and stout.”
“Now I just think you're having fun at my expense!” He snorts, and gives the seeker a pointed look. “Well, I think I should come along.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Oh, come on! You know that you need me down there!”
“No, we do not!”
“You have seen how good I am with a crossbow, seeker! There are demons falling from the sky, and most of your men are dead! You need my help...”
“You know, the dwarf has a point.” I fold my hands over my chest. “I think he should come with us.”
“Solas is the only person we need.” The seeker glares at me. “I am not in the mood to hear your opinion after you lied to me.”
“I didn't lie about anything. It's just that you never asked.”
“You should have told me!”
I shrug.
“What would have happened if I did? I imagine you would have had my head removed before I could even make it this far.”
“That's not true!”
“Oh, yes! It is!”
“...”
The seeker quickly considers what to say next.
“...I would have simply been more cautious.”
“I have no doubt. The cautious always strike first.”
The seeker is quiet. It seems that she wasn't completely shameless.
“Alright, have it your way, but remember this dwarf I won't hesitate to leave you behind if you slow us down.” The seeker turns her head down to face the diminutive rogue.
“I am charmed by your concern.” Varric Tethras nods his head. It seems that he had a history with the dragon slayer.
“Ugh.” The rugged woman snorts in disgust, and pays him no mind. “It should be this way...”
I run up beside her, and make sure to watch my flank.
Who knew what would happen. There were demons quite literally raining from the sky above, and it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that this was an apocalyptic event.
In my long life I had seen such things. It wasn't just when the Dread Wolf tore the fade from Thedas, and banished magic from the world.
There were so many other cataclysmic events. Almost always caused by mortal beings thinking themselves the masters of their own lives, and forcibly taking control of it by any means necessary.
If the world was destroyed it was of no consequence to them. They did not care for nature. They only cared for what ways they could carve the world into their image.
Never once thinking that perhaps the world is this certain way for a reason.
I had seen them seek an escape from death. That which even I must answer to. The elfin kings thought they had bested it by prolonging their unnatural lives.
When in truth they whimper in the face of it.
Constantly seeking new ways to escape oblivion. As they realize that they have only delayed the inevitable.
When the darkness is never your enemy. It is the great mother. That which was always there before the spark which gave birth to this world. At least that is what we dragons believed.
That we would return to her embrace in that darkness. The mother to all.
Since whilst we were free of disease, and age? There would always be other dragons that would challenge us, and in those moments death would be welcome.
It would be something we would face with some dignity. A dragon's pride is worth more than his livelihood.
I am torn from my musings when a blast of magical energy nearly bisects the dwarf. I move quickly enough to push him out of the way, and ready myself to endure the brunt of it.
The moment it crashes against my chest I am sent careening backwards. I toss and turn before crashing back into the snow.
“Ouch.” It's the only thing I could manage to say. I push myself back up. The shirt I wore was ruined, and what armor I had was reduced to molten slag. There were burns on my body but they weren't life threatening. It must have been a fireball of some sort. I turn my attention towards the trajectory of the projectile. I follow it back towards the source. A demon of desire. Who licked her lips, and prepared for her next attack.
“Great!” I shake my head. “This should be fun!” I grab my daggers, and use what magic I can to heal my wounds.
“Do not let your guard down! They are after him!” The seeker is the first to my side, and lifts her shield back up. The bolts of fire ricocheting off it.
That was certainly unusual. The dragon slayer had a resistance to magic. Did the seekers undergo the same training as templars?
I kind of hit something of a writer's block though.
Not sure where to take it from here.