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After one night of rest, Nathaniel, Alistair, and Aedan organised the army, the wounded, and the rest of the Wardens to pack up camp and begin the arduous process of returning to Amaranthine. The carts that had been full of food now carried injured soldiers, and with no rush, Aedan decided to allow the wagons to move out first with the army, while the Wardens would follow behind a bit later. They left us with one wagon for our things and a small group of soldiers to help out. We knew we could move much faster with our small numbers and Grey Warden stamina, so we'd catch up even with a bit of a delay.
Zevran and Aedan spent some time finding all the secret tunnels in the ruins, looking for signs of the Architect, to no avail; most of the others took the time to rest and recuperate after such a grueling fight.
I spent my time in the ruin, trying to understand the crystals the Architect had used -- they had stopped glowing, appearing to be just plain rocks when I found the place in the gallery he'd abandoned them -- and staring thoughtfully out into the chasm, which never saw direct sunlight even in the middle of the day.
I was standing out on a peninsula of land built out over the chasm behind where the Mother had sat when Alistair and Aedan found me.
"We're ready to go, love," Alistair murmured, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "Are you alright?"
I leaned back into his embrace with a sigh. "Fine. Just worried about the darkspawn that got away, and the Architect, of course."
"We'll get him," Alistair promised.
"Eventually," I agreed. "But what will he do in the meantime?" I yanked on my tangled hair in frustration.
With nothing he could say to that, he just quietly held me until Aedan cleared his throat.
"So, is now a good time to ask...what is that?" Aedan asked.
I turned to look where he was pointing with a small smile. It was a large structure, really, but so dwarfed by the size of the ruins around us that it didn't look out of place. There was a dais, made out of some sort of black, malignant-appearing stone, with steps of the same stone leading up. And at the top, flanked by statues made unidentifiable by time, was a smaller flat, grey metallic-looking panel that should have reflected our images back to us, but didn't.
"An eluvian." I grinned. "Anyone seen Conrad? I have an idea."
- COMMENTS
Anonymousalmost 7 years agoI can't even be upset about the cliffhanger because you've been so generous with uploading chapters. So instead of being tormented by what's to come, I'll rejoice in what we have: another continuation of a story that has captured our hearts and imaginations.
You're the best. Seriously. 😁
-Destined
