Chapter Text
There was a hole in the Sky. The Heavens some said had been breached, so that’s what they called it, The Breach - A tear in the veil, within which could be seen the raw fade, untouched by the minds of mages or the thoughts of dreamers, there was no controlling it, spirits forgetting their purpose twisting into shadows of what they once were, this place that now linked to Thedas was the realm of Demons, and they sought only to destroy...
Haven was a small hamlet that had been rebuilt in the years since the blight and became something more that the small sadistic town that the Hero of Ferelden had discovered, its people were frightened and glared at her as she passed so Cassandra Pentaghast stormed through Haven towards the Chantry. They blamed her, of course they did, she had the prisoner, the one they believed to have killed the Divine, she felt herself believing it less as time went on, but she must have caused it, this prisoner was the lone survivor of an explosion that cost hundreds of lives. Ignoring the glances of the townspeople she found the elven apostate outside the Chantry, his hands were clasped behind his back and his eyes were closed the sunlight gleamed of his shaven head, they opened as she got closer, he nodded to her “Seeker”.
“Why are you not with the Prisoner?” she exclaimed.
“I have learnt all I can from studying the mark on her hand” she was glaring at him now her hand tightened on her sword as if she were silently reminding him of her threat, he continued after taking a breath “It will kill her eventually Seeker, I think it may be the key shutting The Breach as you call it, we will need her” His voice was calm and virtually emotionless.
“The Prisoner will die?” she asked wearily.
“Of course, it not merely a magical mark” he stopped a second as he looked from The Breach to her “Every time The Breach expands so does the mark, they are connected, it is only a matter of time before it consumes her” his voice was now showing concern, but Cassandra couldn’t decide whether it was because they may not be able to close The Breach or whether it was for some other personal reason the elf had not shared.
“A rift has opened up further up the path” she gestured towards the temple ruins “I will send a few soldiers with you...” she trailed off for a second as if thinking “and the dwarf” she slurred the word dwarf “his crossbow may prove useful when the demons appear, it is clear for the moment” Solas raised an eyebrow.
“I am to go near an open rift” he queried and she just nodded “Provided you give me back my staff and my equipment I will agree to this, we will need the prisoner” she nodded, Solas gave a weary smile, and looked at The Breach “It may be a disaster Seeker, but it does have a certain stark beauty” Cassandra looked and sighed.
“It does Solas, but some magic goes too far!” she looked at him and he looked at her.
“Cassandra we are not certain that this was in fact magic” she glared and entered the Chantry leaving the elf looking up at The Breach.
It took her a few moments for her eyes to adjust and when they did she heard a voice “Cassandra, shes waking up” Leliana was stood at the door to the dungeons and she followed her down without a word, they walked down the hall and entered and the young elven girl looked up at her, fear in her eyes.
In the sunlight she truly saw how young the girl was, she couldn’t have been a day over 20, and given the glances at the people and buildings around her, she was clearly nervous, Cassandra watched her as her eyes were drawn to The Breach and looked at it herself explaining what it was, to which the elf asked:
“An explosion can do that?”
Cassandra continued talking for a few moments and turned to her, she spoke for a few moments and as if The Maker had been listening to her words, as she expressed her concern of the breach covering the world it expanded, the elf screamed as the mark on her hand spread further into her body matching the expansion of The Breach above falling to her knees. She crouched next to the girl and tried to be as gentle as possible when repeating what Solas had told her about the mark the elf’s blue eyes widened her brow furrowing adding to her shocked expression.
Cassandra was surprised when the elf agreed to help voluntarily and she helped her up leading her towards the bridge filling her in as they walked, she stopped and cut the elf free and looked at her for a few moments, her hair was ginger, dirty and matted, her cheeks were gaunt and she looked exhausted, and she noticed for the first time the small scars on her lip and right eye. Cassandra cut the bindings from her wrists and lead her forward calling out to the guards, as they walked on the Breach expanded causing the mark to spread again, she had to stop to help the elf to her feet.
They were then running across the bridge towards the rift she had sent Solas and Varric to when a projectile fell from the Breach and destroyed it under their feet, they went tumbling down with the wreckage and demons began to emerge, Cassandra drew her weapons “Stay behind me!” she called to the elf and ran at the nearest demon, she didn’t see what happened behind her but she knew the elf must have found weapons in the cart that fell with them when a knife flew into the face of the shade she was fighting.
She confronted the elf about her new weapons but Cassandra knew that she could have killed her any time during that fight and they now had to fight their way forward, against her better judgement Cassandra let her keep it and help. The elf however was slow and weak but she proved herself, she saved Cassandra on several occasions with a well placed knife or sneak attack stabbing from behind, sadly however she also put Cassandra in danger due to her exhaustion and the obvious strain the mark was causing, a few strikes or thrown knives narrowly missed her, one had even become stuck in her shield, she turned at that point and glared the girl blushed and nodded apologetically with a timid smile and that marked the stopping point of her throwing knives, and the start of slow supportive strikes with her two daggers as the mark slowly drained her energy.