#eluvians

Merrill, Bellara had learned, had once been a companion of Hawke, the Hawke, from Tales of the Champion. Merrill had lost two friends to what she later learned was a corrupted eluvian in a set of ruins where their clan had once camped in Fereldan. Merrill had found a way to transport the Eluvian with the clan when they traveled to Kirkwall. She’d spent years then attempting to restore the mirror, until Hawke had finally convinced her that it wasn’t worth it.

“I learned later from Hawke’s brother, a Warden, that the mirror had likely been corrupted by the Blight,” Merrill told Bellara, a tinge of sorrow in her voice. 

When Bellara and Davrin had shown Merrill the cracked mirror in Arlathan, she’d told them it felt similar to the corrupted eluvian Merrill had lost her friends to. It wasn’t quite the same sort of corruption, Merrill thought, but it was corruption nonetheless.

When Merrill had heard of the hall of Eluvians they’d discovered, she recounted for them an told tale an elder from her clan had taught her, of a magic room, somewhere within a grand elven city of the past, that when elves entered it, they were able to travel all across Thedas. It reminded Bellara very much of the Crossroads. Merrill had been fascinated, but somewhat wary of the Crossroads after her own experience with Eluvians. She’d agreed with Bellara that the room they’d found could possibly be an entrance to the Crossroads, but until they wound a way to wake the eluvians up, which they had yet to be able to do, they wouldn’t know for sure.

Unsurprisingly Morrigan had also gotten involved. Vessel of Mythal and one who had restored an eluvian successfully, she hadn’t managed to bring any of the Eluvians to life either.

“Based on this tale that Merrill tells, and what we know of the Crossroads, it is likely an entrance into the Crossroads, a sort of centralized gateway into different parts of the Crossroads, if I had to make a guess,” Morrigan told them. She’d gazed at the mirrors, her expression somber. “Be careful, though, Bellara. The portion of the Crossroads that belonged to the Dread Wolf you and Rook with the Veilguard made safe, but the Crossroads are far larger than that. There may still be parts yet untouched by modern eyes that hold dangers we remain unaware of.”

“Rook would have wanted to explore them, and restore them, if she could,” Bellara replied softly.

“I agree,” Morrigan said, “But Rook would have advised caution as well.”

Bellara made a promise to Strife, Merrill, and Morrigan that she would not attempt to explore what lay beyond the Eluvians alone if she did manage to activate them. 

“Any luck?” Merrill asked from where she sat on the floor, other books open around her.

Bellara frowned. “I’ve found a couple mentions of a ‘key,’ something to unlock entrances into the Crossroads. But I cannot find any descriptions of what it might be.”

Merrill cocked her head. “I’ve seen two references to a key myself, but I cannot figure out if it means an actual, physical key, or if it is referring to perhaps some spell that would activate an eluvian.”

Bellara sighed, glancing at the books scattered around them. “There has to be something here that tells us what the key, or keys, is. We’ve only been through a third of Solas’s library thus far.”

“We’ll find it,” Merrill assured her. “It will just take time.”

Bellara nodded and sighed. “I know, I just feel restless. Now that I’ve decided to do what Rook and I had planned to do, to explore, I want to start seeing, start exploring and document everything I find.”

Merrill nodded, “We’ll make it there, as a team though.”

Bellara nodded, “I did promise, Strife, and Morrigan that I wouldn’t go alone.”

“Your friends have already lost Rook and Lace Harding, they would not wish to lose you too,” Merrill agreed.

They returned to reading through their respective books, spending much of what passed for afternoon at the Lighthouse doing so, until their stomachs grumbled, reminding them that they should eat. They had a quick supper of sandwiches and fruit before returning to the pile of books, spending a few more hours reading until Merrill found herself yawning. 

“I think I shall turn in,” the older elf advised Bellara. “Do not stay up too late, my friend.”

Bellara nodded absently, head buried in a tome. 

“What is this key?” Bellara murmured to herself, flipping to another page. “None of the eluvians in the hall had responded to my tinkering, so there’s something that I’m not seeing, some missing piece. Was it something Solas had, or something the other Evanuris created?”

She frowned, thinking on that. Solas had created on the Vi'Revas, the Lighthouse Eluvian, to help him lead the rebellion against the Evanuris. June, according to what they’d found in the library, had designed the rest of the Eluvians. With all of the other Evanuris dead, did that mean that the eluvians tied to them, or tied to June, could not be activated.

No, because Morrigan had managed to activate eluvians and access another portion of the Crossroads. She’d shown Bellara the section of the Crossroads she regularly used. 

“And the creations were tied to the Creators themselves, to their flesh, their bone, their blood,” Bellara recited, remembering a passage she’d read in a book a few weeks ago. “Flesh and bone..” she stood, going to a pile of books in one corner of the library and sorting through them until she found the tome she wanted and flipped it open to another page.

“The essence of the Creators shall open the way, and shall guide the Creators and their servants through the winding ways,” Bellara read allowed as she found the passage she wanted. “The essence of the Creators. So the Evanruis may have been able to open any eluvian, because one of them created it. But the bodies of the Evanuris are gone, so we don’t have their essence. Mythainaste.”

Her eyes flickered up towards the murals on the wall, and the one depicting the Evanuris taking on their physical form caught her attention. The Evanuris had used the blood of the Titans to craft their physical bodies. They’d learned that lyrium was the blood of Titans. If the Evanuris had created their bodies out of lyrium, then would lyrium open an eluvian?

But handling raw lyrium was dangerous for anyone but dwarves, and even they could go lyrium mad with too much exposure.

“Rook’s dagger, the Wolf’s Fang, how did I not see this before?” Bellara murmured to herself. She closed the book and stood, running out to her workshop.

After Rook’s death, Bellara had kept the lyrium dagger, most agreeing that it was best held and guarded by the Veil Jumpers. Rook had always worn the dagger on her hip, even around the Lighthouse, but seeing it had in the beginning reminded Bellara too much of Rook, so she’d wrapped it up and hidden it away in her pack.

Carefully she sorted through her pack until she found the cloth wrapped dagger. She unwrapped it slowly, until she held the gleaming blue weapon in her hands.

Tomorrow, she’d speak with Merrill and Morrigan to see what they thought of her theory.

Tomorrow, perhaps they might finally have their answer on how to open the eluvians in the ruins. 

I probably could have written an entire long fic about this idea, but sadly I have not had the time. I may expand upon this someday, or you are welcome to explore the ideas in this fic yourself :)

Tagging the usual suspects