Potestas Corpus

Celestine had just spotted Elisa watching their approach from the top of the staircase, which led out of the cellar into a courtyard of sorts, when a presence of impossible power manifested. Alistair was two steps ahead of her, and the mage could almost feel how his body automatically shifted into high alert even as he returned Elisa's wave. Before either of them could make a move to warn the rogue, Celestine saw tendrils of energy wrap around the Cousland's torso; she knew better than to try and warn anyone at that point, it was magic, powerful magic, and even with his Templar training Alistair would be hard-pressed to realise what was about to happen.

It happened in the blink of an eye; first Elisa was standing there, then she was gone- an image of her widening eyes frozen in Celestine's mind. The mage pushed past her armoured companion, a cold sensation running down her back at the soft grunt the noble had emitted before disappearing behind the edge of the the staircase that blocked the rest of the courtyard from view.

Celestine flew to where Elisa had stood, scanning the courtyard, making note of the great portcullis leading to the road that travellers would normally have had to take to get into the castle and the many stairs that led up to what looked to be the castle proper. Elisa was nowhere to be found, and Celestine resorted to following a wispy trail of whatever had grabbed the rogue to find where she had gone. As if sensing it had been found out, a tall figure moved out of the darkness of the shadowy alcove the trail led her to.

It was at least half a man taller than a human, and while its chest was bare, the rest was covered in archaic armour that looked as though it had weathered the passing of ages. The legs were hidden behind skirts of midnight blue cloth that bore several large tears, and despite dragging on the ground, it did not seem to impede the creature. The bared chest revealed mustard-yellow skin that tended towards grey, muscles so individually defined that it made Celestine wonder whether the being had any skin to begin with, as they rippled at even the slightest movement. She could make out several broken-off arrow shafts sticking out of the left pectoral.

The sight of the creature held her attention only for a moment; it was the burden it bore that stopped her dead in her tracks. While almost casually holding a large kite shield in one hand, the other held a massive longsword before it, steel darkened by some strange magic, silver runes glowing across its length. The metal glistened with something...more...as light from the sun hit it, but all Celestine could see was what lay the base of the sword's blade. What she should have seen was a hilt, an arm, more of the creature; it was all obstructed by Elisa's impaled form, tempered length protruding from her torso. The rogue was gripping onto the metal slicked with her own blood, whether trying to escape or trying to stay still Celestine could not tell, but any thoughts she might have had on the matter were dispelled when she saw the blonde look up at her weakly, features pale.

The head of the creature bearing Elisa seemed to mimic her movement, helmeted head looking up from his prey to Celestine. Glowing blood-red eyes held her in place; it felt like an eternity, the creature neither blinking nor moving. The only indication that time had not stopped was Elisa's increasingly weak struggle and the strangely loud tap as droplets of blood dripped from the tip of the black blade onto the dusty ground.

Then Alistair was there, the strange feeling of preparedness permeating the air again, and Celestine realised it was his probably his Templar training subconsciously coming into play, drawing on something greater than himself as he headed into battle. He looked at her, bashful young man gone, golden eyes flickering with a hidden fire, silently asking if he should make the first move.

Celestine faltered. She had taken on the responsibility of being their small group's leader almost instinctively in her need to set things right. That drive blinded her to the fact that it might not have been her role to fill, and now they relied on her, trusted her, to make the calls. Despite the events in the dungeon just moments before, she had not been set aside as something too dangerous. Not been branded as unreliable or despised. Apart from Elisa stating that they would need to talk about things, no one had changed how they interacted with her in the slightest. She did not believe she was deserving of such loyalty, such faith.

It's understandable, all humans are flawed; after all, was that not why the Maker turned from us? Because of our broken nature? And yet they still choose to place their hope in me. Who am I? Just some mage who barely missed the brand. It would have been better if I had been made Tranquil, or died at Ostagar. Better to go down fighting the Darkspawn than be a threat to my friends. Friends…whenever have I truly had those? Jowan just used me; it took an organisation that used to be exiled from these lands for me to find someone who would even tolerate me.

Do not fear. I am, after all, a mage of unparalleled power. I could use that power to end the Blight all on my own – I could save countless lives. I need not put my friends in danger. The Fade beckons me; wishes to follow my every whim. Let it, I can show you how.

Begone, Pride, and leave me alone. You claimed to have marked me as prey of yours, yet even aspects of Rage work to get through to me and manage to do better than you. If you do not intend to follow up on this promise of yours, leave me alone; otherwise, face me now! Let us determine the victor of this game for my soul.

Soon, soon - I have quite the surprise planned for you, my little mageling.

Celestine blinked several times; the whole exchange felt like it had lasted minutes, but Alistair was still looking at her as if waiting for a signal. She inclined her head ever so slightly, an idea already forming in her mind once it was cleared of Pride's influence. He returned the gesture, and banged his sword on his shield once, taunting, before he charged, boots kicking up dust.

Movement caught in the corner of the mage Warden's eye. Looking up, she saw a pair of corpses had appeared, wielding bows. Alistair's noise must have attracted them.

"Morrigan, take care of any dead; I'll aid Alistair!" she shouted to the witch as she once more followed in the wake of the one who had recruited her.

Celestine heard a sharp crack behind her as she neared Alistair and the creature that had impaled Elisa. Above them, on the battlements, several bolts of lightning rained down, arcing between attacking corpses.

Alistair reached the monster and was stalking it warily in a half-circle. It did not want to seem to follow his movement so he was very suspicious of any surprises that might be lurking behind it.

Celestine managed to catch Elisa's eyes once more before the grey-blue orbs fluttered closed, skin whiter than parchment. The Amell's upper lip twitched; she might not deserve them, but she sure did not deserve their death - dare hurt her friends, eh? Her hands spun, bringing her staff around as vapour trailed the jewelled head, before she lifted it into the air in her right hand and slammed it down.

There was a loud crystalline crack as a tower of ice instantly formed around their enemy's sword arm and half its body. Alistair did not waste any time; he dropped his sword and moved to lift Elisa's dead weight off the black blade; its eyes had followed Celestine and were now moving after Alistair, almost lazily. Its free arm was anything but lazy though; gripping the shield properly, it started pounding at the ice encasing it, causing chips to fly and the magically formed column to groan treacherously.

Trying to balance speed and gentleness, Alistair had placed the unmoving form of their rogue friend on the ground when a loud shattering noise came from behind him. He instinctively rolled around, back hitting the ground next to Elisa, bringing his shield to bear. The move saved him. Metal rang on metal as the black sword crashed against the shield. Once, twice, thrice. Flames sprung up around the creature, but it seemed unaffected. The monster and the weapon continued to pound at Alistair and the strain he was taking became apparent as dust kicked up from the struggle plastered his face, leaving rivulets of skin revealed where escaping beads of sweat washed away some of the grime. When it looked like the Warden would finally falter under the relentless barrage there was a metallic thunk.

The creature looked up, the arrow protruding from its visor making the movement look terribly wrong. A sigh seemed to escape from the helmet – a hollow echoing noise that was more akin to wind howling through mountains than an actual sound a person would make. Its gaze turned towards where the arrow had come from. Standing on top of the battlements of the gatehouse was Leliana, red hair whipping in the lakeside breeze, bow still held as if she had just loosed.

Celestine looked to the portcullis to see Erik standing there, accompanied by Ser Perth and his men. She thought he may have given her some signal, but the distance was too great to tell and there was still their foe to deal with. Looking back at her opponent, she could see that Alistair had managed to scramble up, his shield arm no longer held as defiantly as before, but with sword gripped and at the ready.

The creature seemed fixated on Leliana, ignoring all of the others, which was why Celestine noticed when it reached out its hand towards the red-head, the same magic twirling around its arm that she had seen earlier. Understanding dawned as the same cold streak ran down her back as before.

"Alistair, knock down that arm and use a smite!" she commanded; if Leliana was pulled in the same manner as Elisa had been she would either break something from the fall, or also be impaled.

The former Templar did as she asked, blue flames flickering off his armour as he tackled the tall monster. Either due to his weight, or the smite Alistair had wreathed himself in, but the creature went down in a clatter of armour as the magic around it dissipated.

"Alright, now move back!"

The sandy-haired man struggled to untangle himself from the creature, but he managed to get loose of the long limbs and part rolled, part crawled away. As soon as Celestine was sure he was far enough out of range, she pushed her staff into the air, feeling the mana in her body react. Her mind seemed to see everything around her at once, the smallest details coming into focus as the essence of the Fade offered itself up to her.

She had had enough, the events with Jowan had caused her to bottle up, to reinforce the already strict control over her spells. But with the life of one she cared about on the line she relinquished as much of that as she dared. The same flames of rage as before raced through her veins, setting her blood alight with living fire, but this time she was aware of it - aware of how the lyrium seemed to beg for more - this time she was in control.

Where the air had been still moments before, spinning energy pulled dust from the ground around the creature into an ever growing column as it struggled to get back to its feet. Without warning the coiling air ignited, forming a twisting column of fire.

Celestine used her will to shape the pillar, making it narrower and narrower until it became so much compressed heat that it was difficult to look at in its brilliance. She pushed it together until it was a spear, a shaft of energy, and then finally released it into the sky. When the javelin of concentrated fire reached the clouds, a booming thunder shook the skies, echoing between the walls of Redcliffe's castle courtyard.

The only thing that remained where she had originally formed the spell was a glowing pile of molten metal and a smooth reflective coating on the dust.

She wanted to collapse on the ground and cry, to let out all the emotions that had been boiling inside her for the past two days. But duty and a friend's life would not afford her that luxury. So, ignoring the dirty tracks running down her face, she moved next to Alistair who had struggled up next to Elisa's still form.

There was a loud cranking noise from where the portcullis was and Celestine could hear the hurried jog of worried feet. She ignored the heated argument that broke out between Alistair and Morrigan. She ignored the worried looks from Erik, who looked as though the world had been shattered into as many fragments as the Fade. She ignored how Leliana quietly slipped a supporting hand into his. She ignored how the shadows grew to bathe the courtyard in the same darkness that had put Elisa into the state that she was in. She ignored how the flicker of her spells seemed to highlight the worry frozen on everyone's face. She ignored them all, just as she ignored the tears forming in her eyes as she summoned the magic she prayed would save her friend.