#tranquisitor

[Thank you to everyone who read chapter 1! Here is chapter 2!]

Chapter 2:

Once Olive finally stepped outside into the cold she could barely believe her eyes. Not only could she feel the winter air but as she turned she could see a green storm like swirl in the sky but it clearly was no normal storm. 

“We call it the breach. It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour.” Cassandra explained as Olive watched the green in the sky.

Cassandra had said more but Olive couldn’t turn away from the sky. She could clearly see the large stones and other material the green mass had gathered and watched as they swirled around what Olive assumed was the thing Cassandra had referred to as the Breach. Whatever this was Olive knew she couldn’t have done it. She had been tranquil, or that’s what she assumed, for Maker knows how long.

Suddenly the stinging in the mage’s hand returned and Olive fell to the ground in pain. “Each time the breach expands your mark spreads and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.” Cassandra explained as she helped Olive to her feet.

“What do you mean it’s the key?” Olive asked, looking from her hand and then back to Cassandra.

“To closing the breach. Whether that’s possible is something we shall discover shortly. It is our only chance, however. And yours.” Cassandra answered. Even with the Seeker explaining everything Olive thought this was so much to take in. ‘I should be in the circle.’ Olive thought. She wasn’t even sure where she was or what happened to the circle. ‘The First Enchanter wouldn’t have just let me go.’ Olive remembered.

Even with all her confusion Olive knew now might not be the time to be asking questions. The sky had a giant hole in it and apparently she was the only one that could help. 

“I’ll do what I can.” Olive responded to Cassandra. ‘Maker help me.’ Olive prayed in her head.

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As they made their way closer to the forward camp Olive saw more of the damage, broken buildings, burning carts, and wounded soldiers. Hurt and frantic soldiers continued to pass them as Cassandra took the mage up a dirt path. Olive wanted to ask if this had been from the Breach but she remained silent.

Cassandra led Olive to the gates of the second bridge in silence and the mage had noticed as the two walked across the bridge that there were almost no soldiers. There were a few at the end and probably waiting for Olive and her companion. The Seeker walked ahead of Olive and as she followed she couldn’t help but stare at the green light coming from the sky. The view from the bridge was much clearer and now she could see what looked like balls of green fire hailing down to the ground around it.

They were almost across when Olive had noticed one of the bright green balls headed right toward them. Before she could warn anyone the fire ball had hurled itself at the bridge and Olive felt the stone under her feet crumble away. The mage covered her head with her arms as she began to hit the hard stones.

Once she had heard the ice below Olive looked up to see more green balls headed in her and Casandra’s direction. These ones only landed a few yards away and once they hit the ground Olive saw the demon that had been within the fire.

“Stay behind me!” Cassandra commanded as she charged forward to stop the demon in front of them.

Olive then noticed beside her another demon rising from the ground. She looked around quickly for something to defend herself when she noticed a staff a few feet away from her. Once she noticed the staff she quickly got to her feet and grabbed the staff beside her. She then turned and raised her staff to the slowly approaching demon.

Nothing. ‘Where’s my magic?’ Olive internally panicked. As the demon continued to approach Olive couldn’t find a way to use any of her magic. She continued to move back until she felt her legs hit the crates behind her. ‘This can’t be it.’ She thought as she watched the demon come closer. She had just gotten her mind back and the Maker wouldn’t be so cruel to let her die now.

Even though her magic wasn’t seeming to work she did notice that large spiked ball at the end of the staff. WIth the demon was still approaching Olive realized she didn’t have much she could do. Once the creature was in rage Olive, with all of her strength, bashed the demon in the head with the metal end of the staff.

The creature then stumbled back and while it covered it’s head in pain Olive quickly ran past it. She then turned to see Cassandra fighting another demon and there were several more on the snowy hill and further back on the ice. Without her magic Olive wasn’t sure what she could do. Cassandra was handling one demon but there were still several more approaching and Olive didn’t want to leave her to deal with them on her own.

While Olive was trying to think of a plan she hadn’t noticed the injured angry demon quickly charging at her. Out of the corner of her eye Olive noticed the giant claw headed right at her head and quickly ducked out of the way. She then turned to the enraged demon behind her and when she tried to raise the staff to take another swing the demon quickly knocked it out of her hand and onto the ice.

With her weapon gone Olive raised her hands to her head in order to provide her some protection from the incoming claws of the demon. Anticipating the attack of the demon, Olive stuck her hand out in an attempt to block the blow of the creature but before it could hit Olive felt a surge of lightning from her hand strike the demon. The chain of lightning felt stronger than she remembered and the demon fell to the ground.

Once the demon was dead Olive looked at her hand and saw small purple sparks. ‘Thank the Maker.’ Olive through as she reached for the staff that had been previously knocked out of her hand. After picking up the staff Olive turns back to the rest of the demons who had now gathered closer to her and Cassandra, who was fighting another demon. Olive aimed a blast of lightning at the closest demon and while it wasn’t as powerful as the previous one she could tell it did some damage. The attack had gotten the demon's attention and as it quickly approached Olive readied herself for another fight.

Throughout the fight Olive could feel it becoming more and more difficult to use her magic or control it. She had managed to function well enough to defeat the creatures in front of them but once the last demon had fallen Olive felt exhausted. As Olive leaned against her staff she noticed Cassandra quickly approaching but this time her sword was pointed at the mage.

“Drop your weapon. Now.” Cassandra ordered pointing her sword at the scared mage. In a panic Olive let go of her staff and heard the loud clink of it hitting the ice beside her. “Alright. Have it your way.” Olive nervously responds looking between Cassandra and her sword.

“Wait.” Cassandra said while she put her sword away. “I cannot protect you, and I cannot expect you to be defenseless.”

After hearing that Olive slowly moved to grab the staff beside her while keeping an eye on the Seeker. Once Olive grabbed the staff she quickly followed behind Casandra who had stopped a few feet ahead and turned back to Olive. “I should remember that you agreed to come willingly.” Cassandra said before the two continued on walking in silence.

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“We’re getting close to the rift. You can hear the fighting.” Cassandra told Olive as the two climbed up the snowy stairs.

Olive stopped for a moment to try and listen. “Who’s fighting?” She asked as her and Cassandra continued forward.

“You’ll see soon. We must help them.” Cassandra answered back.

Once they reached the top of the stairs Olive could see what Cassandra was talking about. Up ahead were two large pillars and past them was what Olive assumed was once a town, but was now just rubble and burning buildings. In the middle of all the destruction and fighting she also saw the large green mass hanging in the sky. ‘That must be the rift.’ Olive though.

As they got closer she saw the group of soldiers fighting a demon. ‘There’s another mage.’ Olive thought, noticing the elf that was helping the soldiers. She then realized that aside from herself he had been the first mage she had seen since she woke up here. ‘I hope everyone’s okay.’ Olive wished.

Cassandra again charged forward to fight the demon in front of them while Olive stayed back. Olive raised her staff to attack the demon with more lightning but once she tried the attack all she saw was a small spark shot forward. ‘Not again!’ Olive internally panicked. She just wanted this to be a sick joke by the Maker but Olive knew the issue with her magic would have to be fixed later. Olive ran forward and instead of any spell she just hit the demon with the metal part of her staff.

As Cassandra struck the demon with her sword again Olive stepped backward toward what she assumed was called the rift. “Quickly, before more come through!” She heard someone yell behind her right before she felt someone pull on her left wrist. Her hand was then lifted to the rift and as the bright green glow returned so did the stabbing pain. The glow from her hand got stronger and Olive could feel the pull from the fade. She then heard a loud bang followed by the rift quickly sealing itself but up.

The stranger beside her released her wrist and Olive watched as the green glow and pain faded away again. She then turned to see who had grabbed her wrist and saw it was the elven mage she had noticed earlier. “What did you do?” She asked him, still quite confused from what happened.

“I did nothing. The credit is yours.” He responded. Olive then slowly looked down at her hand. “I closed that thing? How?” Olive asked before looking back at the mage beside her.

“Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake, and it seems I was correct.” The elven mage explained to her.

Before Olive could say anything Cassandra spoke up again. “Meaning it could also close the Breach itself.”

“Possibly.” He said to Cassandra and then he turned back to Olive. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”

“Good to know. Here I thought we’d be ass deep in demons forever.” Olive heard behind her and when she turned to see who had spoken she saw a handsome dwarf holding an odd looking crossbow. “Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.” He introduced herself and winked at Cassandra.

“Are you with the Chantry?” Olive asked.

The mage beside her chuckled before speaking up. “Was that a serious question?”

“Technically I’m a prisoner, just like you.” Varric told Olive.

“I brought you here to tell your story to the Divine. Clearly that is no longer necessary.” Cassandra finally pipes up.

“Yet, here I am. Lucky for you, considering current events.” The dwarf responded to Cassandra. Olive could tell there they probably knew each other and she finally noticed the large crossbow the dwarf had.

“That’s a nice crossbow you have there.” Olive said.

“Ah, isn’t she? Bianca and I have been through a lot together.” He responded, speaking fondly of his weapon.

Olive seemed confused when she heard that because she had never heard of someone giving their weapon a name. “You named your crossbow Bianca?” She asked.

“Of course, and she’ll be great company in the valley.” Varric happily answered. Before either could say anything else Cassandra stepped in between the two. “Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated, Varric, but-” Cassandra started to state but was interrupted by Varric. “Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You need me.” Varric responded, smirking at the very annoyed armored woman in front of him.

Cassandra let out an ‘ugh’ sound as she turned around, clearly annoyed, and walked ahead of the group. Before Olive could turn to check on the woman she noticed the mage who had helped her earlier. “My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I’m pleased to see you still live.” He introduced himself.

Olive wasn’t really sure what to say. She wanted to ask about the mages, circle, the rift, or even what was going on. It was clear he knew something about her hand but before she could say anything Varric spoke up. “He means, ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.'” Varric mentioned.

“Thank you.” Olive said to Solas with a smile. She was both thankful and impressed that he had managed to save her from whatever the mark on her hand was. Now that she was getting a better look at Solas Olive noticed that he didn’t seem to be dressed like a circle mage and his staff looked old and like he had probably made it himself. ‘He’s an apostate.’ she realized. An apostate had saved her life.

“Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process.” Solas responded to her before walking over to speak to Cassandra. Despite being an apostate Olive thought he seemed pretty friendly and he had been the only mage she had seen so far, which she realized was quite strange. Instead of finding an experienced circle mage the Chantry had gotten an apostate to heal her. A nice apostate, but he was still an apostate. Not only that but she realized Cassandra had been the only sign of Templar presence and the Seekers aren’t even Templars. ‘What’s going on?’ Olive wondered.

“Understood. We must get to the forward camp quickly.” Olive heard Cassandra say to Solas. The Seeker and Solas then began to continue onward. “Well, Bianca’s excited.” Varric commented as he and Olive quickly followed the two ahead of them. This just kept getting stranger for Olive.

[Author Notes]

Chapter 3:

After sealing the next rift Olive was incredibly relieved to have finally reached the forward camp. The large doors slowly opened and Olive, along with Solas and Varric, followed behind Cassandra. As they walked through the camp Olive saw Cassandra was leading them to a table where Leliana was arguing with two other men.

Olive could tell the older man was a part of the Chantry just by the way he was dressed. However she wasn’t sure about the younger man. He was dressed in shiny white and gold guard like armor and she guessed was an archer based on the large bow he had with him. When they got closer Olive could hear what they were saying. “You have already caused enough trouble without resorting to this exercise in futility.” The older man argued. Both Leliana and the archer seemed pretty annoyed at this.

“I have caused trouble?” Leliana asked.

“We cannot do nothing. The Breach is still expanding.” The archer beside Leliana pointed out. His accent seemed familiar to Olive but she couldn’t quite place it.

“You have already caused enough trouble without resorting to this exercise in futility.” The man from the Chantry yelled at Leliana before turning to the archer beside her. “And you have no authority here.” He stated.

When Olive’s group got closer she noticed Varric’s expression was something between surprised and annoyed as he noticed the archer beside Leliana. “Choir boy?” Varric asked and the archer quickly turned to face them.

“Varric? What are you doing here?” The archer asked, seeming just as surprised to see them.

“I could be asking you the same question.” Varric responded. Cassandra then looked between Varric and the man he had referred to as Choir boy. “That’s Prince Sebastian?” She asked Varric. ‘Prince?’ Olive thought. So far there was a prince, a Seeker, and an apostate but Olive still hadn’t seen a single circle mage or templar.

Before Sebastian or Varric could respond Leliana had finally noticed the group. “You made it!” Leliana excitedly said before turning to the older man. “Chancellor Roderick this is-.” She started but was interrupted by the Chancellor.

“I know who she is. As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution.” The Chancellor demanded as he pointed at Olive.

“Order me? You are a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat.” Cassandra argued, becoming just as annoyed as Leliana and Sebastian were.

“And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry.” The Chancellor responded. As the four continue to argue about what Olive assumed was probably political chantry matters Olive’s attention slowly drifted to the large green light in the sky. She really didn’t understand the point. Even if they did arrest her or pick a new Divine the Breach was still there and getting larger as more time passed. ‘This is all pointless.’ Olive realized.

“Shouldn’t we focus on closing the Breach?” Olive finally spoke up. The four in front of her. “You brought this on us in the first place!” The Chancellor yelled at her.

“She’s right. We still need to close the Breach.” Sebastian agreed with Olive. Cassandra then stepped forward and stood beside Sebastian at the table so she was in front of the Chancellor. “Call a retreat, Seeker. Our position here is hopeless.” The Chancellor said but Cassandra ignored him. “We can stop this before it’s too late.” She stated.

“How? You won’t survive long enough to reach the temple, even with all your soldiers.” The Chancellor asked, seeming hopeless.

“We must get to the temple. It’s the quickest route.” Cassandra said.

“But not the safest. Our forces can charge as a distraction while we go through the mountains.” Leliana then suggested pointing toward the mountains.

The four continued to bicker a little longer but their arguing was interrupted by the loud sound of the Breach expanding again. Then Olive felt the pain return to her hand along with the bright green glow. Olive held her wrist in pain and watched as the glowing and pain subsided again.

“How do you think we should proceed?” Cassandra then asked her. ‘They want my opinion? I’m not even sure what’s going on.’ Olive internally panicked. As she looked at her hand she realized she may not have much longer at this rate. Even if she didn’t make it the Breach needed to be closed. 

“We should charge. I may not survive long enough for your trial.” Olive finally answered. Cassandra then turned back to Leliana. “Leliana. Bring everyone left in the valley. Everyone.” Cassandra ordered.

As Leliana began to walk away Sebastian stopped her. “I’m coming with you.” He stated.

“Shouldn’t you be with Hawke?” Varric then asked Sebastian. For a second the anchor seemed like he wanted to say something but chose not to. “That’s not important right now.” He responded before following Leliana, leaving Varric confused.

Olive and her companions then followed Cassandra as she headed through the camp. As they continued on Olive heard the Chancellor give them one last warning. “On your head be the consequences, Seeker.”

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Olive couldn’t help but feel nervous once she jumped from the rubble and slowly approached the large rift now above her and the glow from her hand returned again. “Someone help me!” They heard a ghostly voice cry out of nowhere. “What’s going on here?” Another ghostly voice said. Olive recognized it as her own but it just didn’t sound right. Other than the odd echo her voice sounds so monoton. There was just no emotion, not even confusion.

‘I barely sounded like a person.’ She thought, now reminded of her previous state before the mark. “That was your voice. Most Holy called out to you, but…” Cassandra started to say.

They were then interrupted by a flash of light and when Olive looked again at the rift she saw a huge shadowy figure looming over the Divine. Olive watches as a ghostly figure of herself slowly walked into the room. Her face lacked any expression of fear or confusion and on her forehead was the brand of a sun.

Olive was tempted to feel her forehead now and see if the mark was still there but she knew she had to focus. “What’s going on here?” The ghostly tranquil asked.

“Run while you can! Warn them!” Justinia yelled. The Shadow figure didn’t even move. It simply said. “We have an intruder. Slay that thing.” Sounding repulsed by Olive.

With another flash of light all the ghostly figures were gone bad leaving just the large rift. “You were there! Who attacked? And the Divine, is she…? Was this vision true? What are we seeing?” Cassandra began to question Olive.

“I don’t remember. I’m sorry.” Was the only answer Olive could give. 

While Olive was speaking with Cassandra she hadn’t noticed Solas walking closer to the rift. “Echoes of what happened here. The Fade bleeds into this place.” Solas said before turning back to the group. “This rift is not sealed but it is closed, albeit temporarily. I believe with the mark the rift can be opened and then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side.”

“That means demons! Stand ready!” Cassandra shouted to war the soldiers and archers around them. Olive then watched as everyone prepared themselves for the fight and she stood under the rift.

‘Maker, I know I’m a mage and maybe you don’t like me but please don’t let this be the end for me.’ Olive prayed as she looked up at the rift.

Olive slowly raised her hand and began to open the Breach. Once it had ripped open a huge Pride demon fell out, knocking Olive off her feet. “Now!” Cassandra shouted from behind Olive.

Olive quickly scrambled to her feet as the soldiers charged the giant demon. Grabbing her staff and when she turned it on the pride demon Olive watched in frustration as all she could use was small sparks. If there wasn’t something more urgent going on she would have been tempted to throw the staff out of frustration.

However even in her anger she knew that wouldn’t help. Olive then noticed the shades coming out after the pride demon who was now fighting the soldiers. She could only use a small amount of her magic but it was enough to focus some electricity at the end of her staff. A Shade began to quickly approach her and since most the other soldiers were focused on the pride demon she was on her own.

Once the Shade was within range Olive quickly struck it with her staff as hard as she could in the side and watched as fell back and was stunned from the electricity. While it was still getting over the shock of the attack Olive attacked the demon again. This attack knocked the creature back even further. It was then that she saw the second Shade quickly approaching her.

When she hit the second Shade it hadn’t been as effective. The Shade recovered much quicker and started to attack Olive. She then quickly moved out of the way of the incoming demon claws. Now with the two Shades after her Olive took another hit at the weaker Shade. When her staff struck the Shade to her surprise another lightning chain came from her staff, killing the both the demons in front of her. Relieved to have her magic back again, she joined the fight against the larger demon.

As the fight continued on Olive was surprised how quickly her energy was drained. She tried to keep her distance from the pride demon as she used what little magic she still could. There were a few times that she had almost been struck by the large wips the creature was using. Cassandra and the rest of the soldiers had charged the demon and were keeping most of its attention. The demon had become weak enough to have a hard time defending itself against the Seeker and other soldiers.

While Cassandra kept it distracted Olive saw she had a clear shot to try and reach the rift. As Olive shot one last bolt of lightning at the demon she quickly and ran to get closer to the rift. Unfortunately that one last attack had gotten the attention of the pride demon and it was no longer focused on the soldiers at its feet. Before Olive had realized it the demon sent a blast of lighting in her direction. The charge of lighting barely missed Olive as she was quickly pulled back by someone behind her. When she quickly turned to see who had saved her, Olive was surprised to see the archer from earlier beside her preparing to fire another arrow.

Now that the demon seemed focused back on the soldier nearest to it Olive quickly got back to her feet and ran to the rift hoping nothing else would get in her way. After she finally managed to get close enough to the rift Olive raised her hand like she had before. The pain in her hand was more severe than before as Olive tried to force the rift closed again. Once the rift finally sealed there was a flash of bright light before Olive watched as everything faded to black.

Tranquisitor:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[Reposting of my old fanfic. A Solas x Trevelyan story and with a lot of cannon divergence. Hoping for 2 uploads a week.]

Chapter 1:

Olive struggled as she was dragged through the hall. Thanks to the cuffs restraining her she couldn’t use her magic and her smaller size didn’t help her against the two Templars trying to bring her to her destination. She kept pulling and pushing in some hope to get away but it was pointless.

She knew there was nothing she could do to escape but maybe she could slow them down. Just a few more seconds before she would have to meet her fate. Eventually though after all the struggling and begging they eventually made it to the door. This was the end of the line and Olive knew it. ‘This is it?’ Olive asked herself.

The young mage looked between the two Templars in hopes maybe just maybe they’d let her go. However the two just faced the door waiting for it to open. Any sympathy, regret, or common ground they had was gone. These people had spent years around each other but now Olive found no familiarity and part of her blamed herself.

“Please, I didn’t do it.” The mage begged but neither of the Templars said anything as the door finally opened.

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‘Please, I didn’t do it.’ Olive pleaded in her mind. Everything seemed foggy and all Olive could feel was an intense pain in her hand. ‘Pain… I can feel pain.’ Olive realized as she quickly opened her eyes and looked around. 

As she looked around Olive first noticed the numerous guards surrounding her. They seemed nervous but Olive was relieved to see they weren’t Templars. ‘This isn’t the circle.’ She thought as she looked around at the dark room surrounded by long empty cells. More pain shoots through her left hand and Olive then notices the strange green glow, which she assumed was the source of the pain.

She then heard the door loudly open and two strange women stepped in. The ginger woman in the hood stayed back a moment as the woman in armor began to circle Olive. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now. Everyone who attended is dead… except for you.” The armored woman explained.

‘Conclave? What is she talking about?’ Olive thought to herself. She couldn’t remember anything about a Conclave and she wasn’t even sure how she got here to begin with. While the mage was trying to think what was going on she hadn’t noticed the woman in armor had stepped forward until she had forcefully pulled on Olive’s glowing hand.

“Explain this.” The woman demanded and Olive was silent for a moment. She couldn’t explain it. The last thing Olive could even remember was facing that dreaded door and having some dying hope that one of them would have mercy on her. The was at the circle but this wasn’t the circle and while she didn’t remember much about that room she knew this wasn’t it. Not only that but she could feel pain and fear again. Olive was still astonished at the fact she could feel again. 

Maker only knows how long she had been cut off from the world. By the length of her hair she guessed it had probably been a while. Her once shoulder length black hair was now much longer and even covered one of her violet eyes.

After thinking it over Olive finally answered. “I can’t… “ Was all she could think to say.

“What do you mean you can’t?” The armored woman practically yelled at Olive.

“I don’t know what that is or how it got there-” Olive started to explain but was cut off. “You’re lying!” The woman in the armor said as she stepped forward to grab Olive but was pulled away by the hooded woman who hadn’t spoken a word.

“We need her Cassandra.” The hooded woman pointed out before turning to Olive.

“Do you remember what happened? How this began?” The hooded woman asked.

“I don’t remember anything about a Conclave. I just remember… I should be in the circle!” Olive tried to explain, seeming panicked at the end. She had just been there but Olive still couldn’t think of anything other than that old metal door and the two Templars she had begged for her life.

At the mention of the circle both the women, seeming confused, turned to each other. “She doesn’t… ?” The hooded woman started but was intercepted by the person Olive assumed was Cassandra.

“Go to the forward camp Leliana. I will take her to the rift.” Cassandra stated.

Olive watched as Leliana nodded before leaving the dark prison. Cassandra then turned back to Olive and again walked back over to her. As Cassandra lowered herself to Olive’s level the mage moved back slightly, expecting another interrogation. To Olive’s surprise Cassandra simply uncuffs Olive instead. 

“What’s going on?” Olive asks once the cuffs are finally off.

As Cassandra pulled Olive off the ground she answered. “It… will be easier to show you.”

HATS. EXPRESSIONS. BEHOLD.