Pride, Wolf and Rebellion

Rituals

The forest lay before Fen'Asha and the Inquisition. It was ablaze with battle, the vegetation distorted into smouldering dust and red flames. The sound was often deafening, with detonations of combat and screams of horror rising from different parts of the Arbor Wilds.

There was fanfare for Fen'Asha all the same and the soldiers around the central camp raised their swords when she arrived.

She dismounted and headed for the middle of camp, near the cluster of requisition tables and tactic posts. Cullen bustled here and there, collecting small bands of troops and setting them to different places on maps. Other clusters of soldiers gathered here and there, talking noisily as they noticed the Inquisitor stride through camp.

"Do you imagine it is Andraste your soldiers invoke when they face their demise or is it a more immediate name?" said Morrigan as she surveyed the throng.

"Time is short," said Fen'Asha.

Morrigan sighed. "If your scouts report accurately, the ruins we seek should be the Temple of Mythal. The eluvian is likely within."

Fen'Asha nodded and set out for the ruin as marked on her maps, following the prepared operations plans generated at Skyhold.

They moved down in the riverbanks, sloshing through water that grew red with blood. There had been combat on the road and in the forest nearby and several bodies dotted the pathway to the ruin.

Fen'Asha frowned as she saw her own soldiers cut down, bodies wrecked by magic and Red Templar weaponry. She grew angry as she saw trees burning, wildlife destroyed, rocks blemished with blood. Corypheus and his forces left a mark on the land, a mark that would not soon fade. In his desperation and greed, he drew devastation over everything in his path.

Soon, there were elves. They dipped in and out of the forest, appearing between the trees and plants and bodies.

In a flash of lightning and metal, Fen'Asha felt the cold glint of steel at her back. It clanked against her chainmail and she felt breath in her ear.

"Ma halam," exhaled an elf.

She turned her head slightly, sure she was caught, but the elf stood frozen for a moment before collapsing to the ground in a heap of blood and ice.

Solas stood over the remains.

"Who are these elves?" said Fen'Asha.

Solas looked down, shaking his head. "Perhaps this Temple of Mythal is not deserted."

Morrigan strode up to the chunks of ice that bled into the rock underneath and touched it gingerly. "Few return from the Arbor Wilds," she said. "Now we know why."

They continued on their journey and soon found themselves at the incredible gates to a tunnel. An archway introduced a small tunnel, which was framed by two enormous statues of Fen'Harel.

Fen'Asha gazed up at the statues, taking in their scope.

"There is fighting ahead," said Solas.

Sure enough, the raw sounds of combat echoed through the rock tunnel. The clanging of steel and the moans of more soldiers falling to fire and ice rose and fell rapidly, like waves of violence carrying through the passageway.

They rode through the darkened corridor, discovering shadows of rock fixtures that marked a soaring bridge above a thundering constellation of vapours, and a looming edifice at the other end that looked to be the mouth of the Temple of Mythal.

The commotion of battle roared and they found themselves on a veranda of sorts, a rock construction that looked down over a small dell surrounded by overrun bushes, trees and noise.