The Taint of Magic - A Solas x Lavellan Story

...Than Never to Have Loved At All

Evelyn blinked as she looked around, the sound of rain echoed throughout the cave. Dorian had returned, and yet he wasn't worried about her being up and about. She must have not been gone long. He offered her food, which she took out of familiarity. The sense of loss she felt remained like an ugly reminder. Solas had loved her, even in the time before the veil. But the truth that they were more then just lovers only seemed to burn at her heart. The fractured pieces stung like splinters and only one could help heal that. Evelyn glanced up at her dear friend, noting the worried glances, and offered a smile.

"I am fine, Dorian." she breathed, hiding how broken she was inside. Her words did little to settle the looks, but Dorian accepted the words.
"I worry that we put too much on you, and that if you break then I will lose my friend." Dorian said as he increased the flames. He really was worried about her, and that only made her guilty. How had things fallen so far? How had things got so broken? Evelyn smiled sadly and shook her head,
"I have you to keep me grounded." she replied and looked up. Maybe she would have been prepared if she told her friends the truth, maybe she would have been able to fight if she wasn't so weak and distracted. Maybe Dorian wouldn't have been so pale as the shadows ripped her from the cave. Maybe, just maybe, she would have been able to get them home if she had been cold and heartless.

- x - x - x - x -

When the others returned to a cold cave, alarm bells rang in each of them. When Evelyn and Dorian didn't answer it caused worry and chills down their backs. The sight of a hurt Dorian and the absence of Evelyn brought back a sick feeling of dread. The eluvian room was sealed and there was no trace of their fearless leader. When Varric managed to get health potion in Dorian, and helped him to come around, that feeling increased ten fold.

"Shadows, I wasn't sure, but all I could see was shadows." Dorian was in no state to mount a rescue and they were clearly out matched. What they needed was a plan, power and maybe even help. They talked, argued and plotted all night. Getting nowhere fast and each second with her gone meant that they were one step behind the real problem. Stressed, cold and tired they all admitted that they were out of their depth. Without Evelyn, they were too different to work together. Cassandra wanted to track down the inquisitor, along with Cullen. Yet Sera and Varric believed the best option was to find clues as to what this shadow thing was. Dorian was in too much pain to even consider planning their next move.

It wasn't until murmurs came from the eluvian room that they managed to get the help they needed. It seemed that Solas had finally managed to get the mirrors to work correctly. Did that mean that Thedas was growing smaller or whatever was blocking the path before was gone? All that the group could think was happy thoughts. They finally had some idea what to do. (And Dorian got a bull sized nurse). They explained what had happened for them and asked questions on their home. Each day that had passed in Skyrim, a month had passed in Thedas. Solas remained silent as the two groups finally caught up with each other. It had been so long since they had all been together and yet, that cold emptiness remained.

"Where is Evelyn?" Solas finally asked, watching the frown mar Cassandra's face. The guilty look on Dorian's face and the quiet that came from others.

"Gone. She was taken, pulled into the shadows while we were out." Cullen spoke, anger and worry in equal parts.

"What do you mean she got pulled into shadow?" Solas asked slowly, as he looked around the camp. Looking at the shadows around them.

"We were talking about how fragile she seemed and the entire cave became dark, then shadows, they were like smoke." Dorian winced as he sat up, "They surrounded me and dragged her away. All I could feel was cold and depression. Like a demon had taken over me." he finished. Solas recalled Cole's monologue. Shadow wolves.

"We have no way to track her. No idea what took her and worse, we have no plan of action." Cullen huffed, obviously distressed of the loss of his leader. Solas ignored the pang of jealously and focused on the mark. His mark.

"I can find her, what we should expect is something else, but maybe we be prepared for anything." He said slowly, summoning a wisp of green light in front of the inner circle. They would have to be quick, Thedas would not survive if they lingered.

- x - x - x - x -

The floor was cold. Bitter and biting. It was that feeling that finally roused Evelyn from the dreamless slumber. The stiffness in her body was a reminder of everything she had been through since everything started. Hell, she looked good for a dead person. Her hands brushed against cobble stones, she wasn't in the cave anymore and that was alarming. Evelyn looked up, her eyes burning in protest, and saw the alters before her. Each alter had candles, idol and offerings. What surprised her wasn't the lack of Skyrim idols but the fact each one was an elvish god or goddess. All except Elgarnan. The all Father.

"Figured it out yet?" Came a snarl, it made Evelyn recoil and come face to face with a very angry Solas. Not Solas, the copy of him. The mimic that had broken her so effortlessly. "Who I really am?" it asked, hands gripping the bars as he looked down on her. Evelyn shook her head, she really had no idea. The creature laughed and stood. It's laugh was empty, hollow and horrible. "I am everything the Dread Wolf should have been. Mythal believed she was so smart, banishing me to void. Yet it just made me stronger and when your petty gods took you back, they freed us all. Now I will bring all those to heel and you, my pet, will help me." he mused and looked at the alters.

"I will never help you." Evelyn finally found her voice, realising that this being was going to destroy everything she loved because he had been tricked. "I will be your downfall." She added, knowing that her friends would find her eventually. Somehow.

"Oh, Evelyn. You won't have a choice in the matter." The smile he gave her was carnal and evil. Evelyn never felt so alone and lost then she did in that moment. The only hope she had was worlds away and her memories only damaged that hope. WHy couldn't she go back to that dream and stay there? In that world. Evelyn flinched as the cold seeped into her body, like a disease that corrupted everything...like....like...

Evelyn opened her eye's quickly as she noticed the mark was flashing red now, the cobbled stone wasn't actually meant to be. It was covered in crystals that looked eerily similar to Lyrium. Red lyrium. Her hands were bleeding all over them and the horror settled in. He was truly corrupting her body and soul, she would be lost to herself and nothing would change that. Evelyn looked up at the demon's face and knew her fate was now sealed. If her friends found her, she would no longer be the inquisitor but the leading cause to their deaths.

"No!" She screamed against the metal bars, "No...." she wasn't strong enough to keep the voices away, she wasn't strong enough to keep fighting and as the time passed, Evelyn wasn't strong enough to keep being herself. She only hoped that her friends would be strong enough to put her down. To finish her off for good this time. Maybe then, she would find some peace.