faderift | OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (OPEN LOG 1)

OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (OPEN LOG 1)

WHO: Living Residents of the Horrible Future
WHAT: Ah ha ha ha stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
WHEN: ALTERNATE FUTURE, 1-15 Cloudreach 9:48
WHERE: Anywhere, but especially Orzammar
NOTES: This is the first open log for False Gods, Great Demons. Anything that happened prior to Cloudreach 9:48 should go on the flashback meme. Most members of the TTT and their friends in Kirkwall will be arriving in Orzammar on approximately Cloudreach 7. In the meantime, feel free to make your own adventures. If you want to blow up an bridge, assassinate an NPC of your own invention, steal supplies, or anything else--it's all yours, go for it!

SOUTHERN THEDAS is a wasteland. The Blight crawling across the Orleian countryside and into Ferelden leaves nothing alive in its wake, scarring the land like an insatiable fire until no birds sing and the only things that grows is the Red Lyrium that speckles cliff sides and crawls up dying trees until they look like rows of jagged bloody teeth. And where it's still green, where people can still survive, the atmosphere is nearly as stifling. Every city and settlement is watched over by a Venatori or trustworthy collaborator. Those who don't keep their heads down and their dissent a whisper may vanish without warning. They may take their whole families with them. There are flashes of hope--an assassinated lordling here, a village rousing itself to brief and doomed rebellion there--but for every man the Imperium loses, they seem to find two to take his place.

NORTHERN THEDAS is at war. The worst of it doesn't reach west into Tevinter or the Anderfels; the line between the Qunari and the Imperium is drawn straight through Antiva, with Nevarra and Rivain on either side quiet and calm as only lands under martial law can be. The Free Marches vary between complacency and rebellion, but the rebellious ones risk ruin--there are murmurs it won't be long before a whole city is made an example. A steady stream of desperate refugees is fleeing north to the Qun, but plenty are picked off and punished as traitors before they can cross into Qunari-controlled territory. Your best best for a clean escape are the pirates who still hold Llomerynn free from both sides of the conflict.

ORZAMMAR is the only kingdom in Thedas that looks much the same--and Kal-Sharok, but they're not accepting outsiders. The heavy doors at Orzammar's entrance are sealed and guarded, as much against the steady flow of refugees asking for help as against the Venatori. The refugees are turned away. There's no way to know who can be trusted, and even if there were, there's not food enough for people who can't fight. Orzammar Thaig is still the dwarves' home--though with stealing shrinking numbers and poor prospects, King Bhelen has been amenable to allowing casteless surfacers some leeway--but the once-abandoned Ortan Thaig is the Inquisition's. Quietly. The only things stopping a full assault on Orzammar is the Venatori's need for dwarf-mined lyrium and the plausible deniability that the Inquisition's remaining rebel bands are using the Deep Roads with Bhelen's consent.

An hour's walk through caves and deepstalker swarms, Ortan is a city in its own right. A crammed city, one where cots and bunk beds crammed into shared housing are the norm no matter how important someone is and you occasionally have to protect your dinner from a restless, swooping griffon, but one where you can still find a pint of ale or a game of cards if you've time to waste on them. It's just that not many people do. There's the watch to keep; the tunnels that creep further into the deep teem with darkspawn who are held back at barricades, while the hidden, narrow tunnels that lead to the surface are watched at all hours so anyone coming or going can be identified. There are weapons to forge and sharpen. Plans to make. Bands to lead. Maybe you weren't a leader five years ago, but these days, there aren't that many people with more than five years' experience still alive to give orders. Fewer every week.

And so we burned. We raised nations, we waged wars,
We dreamed up false gods, great demons
Who could cross the Veil into the waking world,
Turned our devotion upon them, and forgot you.
Threnodies 1:8

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He honestly was not expecting to see Hermione again. These familiar faces that he hadn't seen in years and there was hers among them. His face lit up as he went over to her and just wrapped his arms around her. Maybe he even picked her up a bit too. Honestly he was just so thrilled to see her again and he had no doubts that this was indeed her. His dear Hermione who had once helped him to adopt and name a cat.

"Hermione! I have missed you! It warms my heart to see you once more!"

Even in the darkest of times this man was still as brilliant as the sun and he was showing her that now.

At first, Hermione didn't know what was going on, as she certainly hadn't been expecting anyone to come up to her, never mind someone large enough to pluck her from her feet like that. But then she realized who could possibly be the only person to give hugs quite like that, and Hermione did her best to return it with all of the relief and affection she could muster.

"Iskandar! You're still here!"

And then she realized: "Of course you're still here. I could hardly expect anything to take you down, in either body or spirit. How are you? Please tell me things aren't as bad as they look. I don't know if you've heard, everyone seems to think the Outsider and the Iron Bull and the Doctor and Cosima and the others of us had all died years ago, but we hadn't. We just woke up here - well, not here, we were in a place called the Gallows and had to escape - but we've concluded that we must have traveled through time, and I was so scared that everyone I'd known would be dead or would hate me! Ellana was there - she's an elf and my friend, or was my friend - and she'd been so cold that I'd thought that... that...."

Forcing herself to take a breath, Hermione smiles awkwardly up at him. "I'm just glad I still have a friend here."

That was a lot all at once and he blinked a bit at everything spilling out. When it was done, or rather trailed off, he smiled at her warmly and pulled her in for another embrace just to have that reminder that she did indeed have a friend there with him. A soft laugh escaped as he gave her head an affectionate little rub.

"Ah. I am here. You will always have a friend in me, I swear to you that. Now, let us go sit down and you can tell me your tale again. Slowly this time so that way I can actually keep up!" Another laugh spilled out as he gave her head one more rub then wrapped an arm around her to walk her over to sit down with him away from everyone else. Just so that way she could have some privacy with him at least. Well, as much as this location would allow for them anyway.

She'd never really let go of him from the initial hug, and so Hermione clung to Iskandar even as she sheepishly realized he'd caught very little of what she'd just rattled off. It was a bit of a quirk of hers whenever she was excited or nervous, one that she'd never really managed to get rid of, and she was just glad that he was still willing to listen to her.

Moving with him and trusting him to guide her so she wouldn't have to look at the depressing atmosphere all around them, Hermione took another deep breath, though she did feel better as he continued to laugh. At the very least, everything that had gone on hadn't dampened his spirit.

"What was the last you'd heard of me?" she settled on, trying to figure out just where she needed to start from.

"One day the lot of you vanished. There was talk for awhile of what might have happened but you never reappeared. It was settled on the fact that you all must have perished. It never felt right to me but I knew that I had to make sure others were taken care of."

He sighed a bit and it was clear he'd wanted to try to search for them but even he knew when it was best not to do so. Sometimes one had to move on just to make sure that those left behind were cared for. It was for the best really, sad though it was.

Iskandar sat with her and kept her tucked close so she could keep clinging to him. It was what she seemed to need right now so it was what he was going to make sure happened.

"You have not changed a day since you vanished though. It is as if you are the very same as you were back then."

People had assumed they'd died... without ever investigating? Or at least retrieving the bodies? Hermione supposed that they weren't exactly important enough to send a follow-up contingent of soldiers to look for them or determine exactly what had happened, but that still wasn't exactly a comforting thought.

Frowning a bit, Hermione kept close to him as her thoughts raced. Harry would have at least tried looking for her, wouldn't he? And she'd made other friends who would have been at least a little curious, or so she'd thought. But perhaps, by the time people had realized that something was wrong, things had gotten too dire. Also not a pleasant thought.

"I don't know if I'd say the very same, given everything," she muttered softly under her breath. Looking up at Iskandar, she explained, "I don't know how much you've heard, about the... I think we settled on calling it a time slip. Everything around us just... changed, and we ended up here. Or rather, we ended up in the same place we'd been, but just... about five years later, give or take. Venatori found us, and when I'd woken up we were in a dungeon of sorts with other people who filled us in on everything that's happened."

"I heard some but go ahead and tell me more. I want to know of your tale from your point of view and not from what others have told me of it."

She'd been through much and had seen much. She could probably tell him something important before he then told her all that he'd been witnessing. Perhaps she could get a fresh take on something so that way she could use it. Or maybe not. It was hard to tell where this was going to go really but they had to at least try. It was the best they could do in that moment.

"Go on."

"My point of view had been largely colored by some sort of drug," Hermione revealed bitterly. "Magebane, I think they called it? I wasn't as sick as some of the others, possibly because I'm not technically a mage, but it knocked me out and kept me feeling sick for a good portion of it. I remember lots of arguing, largely over whether or not those who'd just arrived here should try to find a way back to the past so we can undo the future. Less-than-friendly words were exchanged. Two of us were taken away, presumably for torture, but it seems that one of them had been given a key. Saoirse, an elf. Teren, the Grey Warden, was the other one. Together they unlocked all the cells and got out."

She paused for a moment before frowning a bit. "We had a bear." And that was all she could really say about that.

"Afterwards, Teren asked a few of us to come with her to Nevarra, to rescue Lady Thevenet and Dor-... Lord Pavus and bring them here. I'm not sure why - Teren has always been so tight-lipped - but I'd wager it had to do with maneuvering politics and researching more about the time slip. After they were out, we made our way here." Looking around, she frowned a little as she murmured, "I didn't think anything would make Skyhold feel overly cozy in comparison, but here we are."

"A bear..." Based on what he'd heard about who had been with Hermione that would mean that was likely to be Sam. He could change into one, after all.

When Hermione finished her tale, he nodded. That must have been very trying for her. To have her senses seemingly stolen from her for a time. It could be a terrifying experience even when they'd only been dulled. She seemed better now so perhaps the drug had worked its way out of her system. He certainly hoped that was the case anyway. That would be for the best for her.

"Yes. Now you are here. That was a harrowing experience for you and I'm glad you are here with us now even with how dark the times are these days."

"A bear," she confirmed. The bear had been Sam's neighbor in the cell. If they were indeed the same person, Hermione must have been more out of it than she'd thought.

For her part, Hermione couldn't say that she was necessarily glad to be here, given how different the world is now than it had been before. She'd barely been able to stomach some of the inequities of Thedas five years ago; when they were living in something akin to a dystopia, she could manage it even less.

Nevertheless, she leaned in closer to Iskandar and murmured, "I'm glad you're still safe." That much, at least, was true. "I've heard we've lost some people over the years. I'm sorry if any of them were friends."

"I count them all as friends. Any person lost in this fight who is a dear ally is a friend to us. It has been sad but wars never mean we will be without losses."

Some had been lost other ways and then there was the fact that all with shards were in danger. However she had been through enough without that added to her plate. He would not burden her with that now. Not when he could comfort her and give her a small bit of light for a short time.

"Those of us here are safe for now though. And that is truly a blessing."

No matter how many times she witnessed it, Hermione would never understand how Iskandar could keep himself so optimistic. She often found such unabashed optimism a bit foolish, but she didn't view it that way with him. She didn't know how to view it.

"Are we safe, though?" she asked, looking around. "It looks more like we're in hiding. Which would mean that people are looking for us, and so there's a chance of being found. This isn't exactly the fortress Skyhold is. ... was." Falling silent for a moment, she glanced up at him and asked, "Is Skyhold even still standing?"

"Sometimes safe for the moment is safe enough. We may be in hiding but we can use that time to prepare and to rest. It is what we need for now." She asked the question about Skyhold and he let out a sigh. "It likely still stands because it could not be breached. However, to remain there would have meant we likely would have been cut off from supplies. It was better to abandon it while we could."

At least in locations like this they had a chance of moving.

Hermione didn't agree that rest was what they needed. What they needed was to find a way to get her and the rest of her team that had been abruptly forced into this time back to where they belonged, so they could prevent any of this from happening in the first place. But she'd met enough people with very strong opinions on this matter, and while she doubted that Iskandar would snap at her the way some of the others had, she didn't want to have that argument all over again.

"But this place can be breached. And we can still be cut off from supplies if we're not careful. So I hope it's widely understood that this is only a temporary solution." Looking up at his eyes and trusting he wouldn't lie to her, she brought up, "Unless the majority really has lost hope and are simply waiting to die."

That had been how Ellana had made it sound, and it was such a stark difference from her usual personality that Hermione had to gauge just how hopeless the situation really was.

"Hope is not an easy thing to hold onto in such dark times. So I do all I can to keep smiles around. It seems the least I can do when I am back from fighting."

No, he would not lie to her. It was why he admitted so easily that hope was hard for people to find here. Perhaps it wasn't lost but it certainly was difficult to find. In times like that fear was a powerful emotion for others.

"If I become the last person still to smile then I am still proving that there is something in this world filled with light. That is a cause I can fight for."

While she appreciated his sentiment, Hermione took Iskandar's answer to mean that she'd been correct: most had lost hope. Iskandar hadn't been shaken, not yet, but from what she'd gathered among the others she'd spoken to, there weren't many left who seemed to find much of a reason to keep fighting.

"Some people need to fight for something more than a smile," Hermione told him, trying not to let the weight of the situation wear down on her. "You don't risk dying for a torch in the darkness when what you really need is the sun. That's what I've been seeing from most people hereabouts, anyway."

"Mm. I would risk dying for a torch in the darkness. For without the torch how will I see my way out to where the sun is?" It was the logic of a fool but he'd never bothered to deny that he was one. In fact that foolishness of his was something he embraced and shared with others. "So I suppose I've decided to be the torch. If nothing else it means hope is not lost."

He laughed softly and gave her head a rub. "Do not let this carry you down, Hermione. Look upon this and remember it all. If you are truly out of your time then you will find a way back. Then you can help us to not reach this moment."

Hermione could only look up at him a bit incredulously at his remarking, knowing it was naive but also knowing that she couldn't have exactly expected anything else from him. If nothing else, she supposed it could be comforting to know that at least some things don't change over the course of five years.

Ducking out under his large hand as he rubbed at her head, Hermione couldn't help looking up at Iskandar a bit incredulously. "You mean you think the future can be changed? That it should be changed? I've been hearing so many harsh opinions to the contrary that I don't know what to believe anymore."

Enough people had told her that she was being foolish for wanting to go back and change things, since everyone here had already experienced the horror of the past few years and couldn't exactly un-experience it. While she knew that Iskandar could be naively optimistic, it would still help somewhat to know whether he honestly thought that there would be some validity in attempting to change the future he'd lived through.

"I think that the future is our own creation and that it can be what we make it to be as a result. If this is the future that you wish for then do nothing. If you wish to see another future then work to bring change." He looked out at the people not far from where they were. At the heaviness of the burdens they carried. If there was a way to make sure this never took place. If there was a way to make sure that the people with anchors could be saved...

"You have been gifted with the knowledge of this moment in time. If we can send you back then I would hope you would find a way to make this world better for us all."

He closed his eyes a moment and sighed. A smile soon followed as he opened his eyes to look at her again. "You may think me too optimistic but if there is a chance to bring a moment to a different end then shouldn't one try for it? There are many paths we can take in this world. Why should this be the only one?"

As much as Hermione might appreciate knowledge, she wouldn't call this experience a "gift," not by any means. It left her with certain ethical questions that were much too complicated for her, at least while she was still reeling from the shock and discomfort of her current predicament.

Still, she understood well enough what Iskandar was saying, and so she looked to the ground as she frowned over her options. "Most people are only given the chance to walk a single path. Do the few who get to experience more than that have the right to make decisions for the rest?"

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't question matters and would be searching tirelessly for a way back to the past to warn the Inquisition of what was to come. But the Doctor and certain other people have made their positions on the subject known, and besides, these weren't normal circumstances. She'd be more concerned if she wasn't questioning this as deeply as she was.

"No. They do not. However, they have the right to offer opportunity so that others might walk the same path they do. Should you wish to bring change then share your knowledge and let others decide what they will do with it. Should you wish things to happen as they fall then keep your knowledge to yourself. Either way your choice will not be wrong in my eyes and I will be proud of you so long as you stand true to whatever you decide."

Iskandar smiled at her, taking her in. This strong young woman with still so much potential. Sometimes he wondered if she fully understood herself all that she could accomplish in the world if she stepped up to try.

Hermione didn't know what she'd done for Iskandar to have such faith in her, but at least in this particular instance, she could blame it on perhaps him having begun to think more highly of her once she and the others had disappeared. After all, everyone had a tendency to remember their fallen comrades in only the brightest of lights. Even Harry had begun the respect Snape after the war, regardless of the way he'd treated him prior to that.

"I want for things to get better. But I can't know what that means, not until it would be too late to make any changes if I'm wrong. Better wizards than I am have fallen victim to higher types of magic that promise a mastery over time or death or any number of other things. Just because I don't have any lofty ambitions doesn't mean I can't foul it all up just by backing the wrong horse, as it were." Still, she did appreciate that faith Iskandar had in her, and he didn't want him to think otherwise. "I'll have to think about it. And keep talking about it, I suppose. I just... don't want to make things worse."

"I suppose in the end it will come down to you also having faith in others to do the right thing. Still, it will be your decision and I will not tell you what to do aside from follow your own heart on this matter. It may not seem it but it will not betray you."

That was the best he could offer her really. Decisions like this had to be made on her own terms and he couldn't make them for her. More so since she was a grown woman who was able to stand on her own two feet in this world or any world really.

"I know it is how I live my life and I feel it has guided me well."

Telling someone to "follow their heart" in this particular case sounded like it could do more harm than good, but Hermione didn't say as much. Either way, Iskandar had already lived through the past five years, and he was clearly an adaptable sort of person; whether this future was set in stone or it could be changed, it likely wouldn't have much of an impact on who he was or what sort of advice he might give.

She ignored her heart more often than she liked to admit, but her head wasn't giving her any clear answers int his case. So rather than continue to beat a dead horse, Hermione took a breath and simply nodded, looking up at Iskandar with a small, wan smile.

"Thank you, Iskandar. I might not like what this future has become, but all the same, I'm glad you're still here and that you found me."

"I suppose I should work hard to make sure I always find you. No matter where or when you are in this world."

She was his family. He had to make sure that he was there for her whenever he could be. Not the easiest thing to manage considering his powers were far more limited here but that hardly meant he couldn't put some effort into it. Especially since she was going to always be a daughter in his eyes.

"That seems a fair quest for me."

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bookish_lioness - 2017-04-21 11:37 (UTC) - Expand

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