Chapter Text
“Hawke! Behind you!”
Garrett whirled around and felt a spray of blood hit his face. Wiping it from his eyes he saw Fenris pulling his sword out of a demon that had gotten disturbingly close to him.
“Thanks-” His next sentence was cut off by the sound of another rift opening close by. The sudden smell and sound of electricity crackling nearby didn’t fill him with comfort either, electricity meant pride demons. Pride demons were never easy.
Sure enough, when he turned in the direction of the sound, two pride demons were advancing slowly out of the rift, brandishing their electricity whips. There were three terror demons flanking them, letting out their hoarse screeches. He gripped his staff tighter, retreating a few steps backward.
Fenris slid in front of him, holding his sword steady. Garrett put his hand on Fenris’s shoulder as they started backing up together. Garrett felt his back hit a crumbling rock wall. They were cornered.
“Fenris-”
“Shut it.” He snapped at him, Hawke could see his grip on the sword tighten. He kept his eyes on the advancing demons.
Hawke opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by a loud piercing whistle. It cut through the air right above them, it must have been coming from the top of the wall they backed up too. The demons, as one, all looked up.
“WATCH YOUR HEADS!”
A body dropped down in front of them, Garrett saw a flash of green light and silver armor, before a bright green, magical shield of some sort was dropped on top of them. Through the haze of the shield and over Fenris’s shoulder he could make out the figure, with two daggers strapped to their back, standing their ground in front of cackling demons.
Then everything started happening at once. The pride demons brandished their whips, striking the ground right where the person had been only a moment ago. They had vanished. Hawke hurried around Fenris, who’s jaw had dropped to the floor, to the edge of the shield to look around for the person.
The shield dropped, and he staggered backwards in alarm. He needn’t have worried, the demons weren’t even looking at them anymore; instead he suddenly had a clear view of the person in the silver armor, surrounded by the terror demons.
He gasped, and he heard the scrape of Fenris’s sword against the ground as he lifted it again.
The figure looked over at them, face hidden by the helmet they were wearing. They lifted one finger, the universal gesture for “one second.”
He waited.
The closest terror demon lifted it’s arm to bring down a powerful slash on the person. In the split second it took to reel back it’s arm, the person's left palm glowed with a headache inducingly bright green, and they slammed their hand into the ground.
The powerful shockwave shook the ground, knocking all the demons and Hawke off their feet. He was pulled back up immediately by Fenris, who was still slack jawed, staring at the unknown person. Garretts head snapped back around when he heard the roar of the demons, and Fenris jumped in front of him again.
The person in silver armor swung their hand up and into the air this time, the green light blinded Hawke momentarily. When he opened his eyes again it was like time had slowed, there was a new rift open, right above their outstretched hand. Whoever this person was, they were wielding powerful rift magic with only their hand. There was no staff in sight, just an eerie green gash cut across their palm.
The swirling emerald light was acting like no magic Hawke had ever seen before. It caught the demons around them and dragged them towards the rift, as though someone had done it physically. They clawed the ground underneath them, roaring as the person in the silver armor twisted their hand and seemed to redouble the grip the magic had on the demons.
With one final ear splitting shriek, the demons were pulled into the rift. The figure closed their hand into a fist and the rift sealed with a crackle of energy. The green magic remained in a radius around them, darting around silently. Or so Hawke thought until a wisp of the green magic shot past his face, and he heard what sounded like whispers.
“....Serves us….Our servant…he helps.....”
The figure turned to face them and even though they didn’t come any closer, he could feel the raw and powerful magic coming off of them in waves. More intense than anything he had ever felt in his experiences with magic. And they weren’t even a mage.
Hawke trembled, even though they had just saved their lives- he had never been so frightened of one person in his entire life.
As though smelling the fear on him, Fenris walked them several steps backward again, raising his sword slightly.
It felt as though they stood there, for hours. Hawke becoming tenser with each passing moment, Fenris standing still as a rock in front of him; and their still unknown savior, just watching them. It must have only been a few seconds however, because the next second the figure pointed at them and said:
“On your right.”
Hawke and Fenris looked to their right and only nearly managed to get out of the way of a full grown qunari warrior, running full sprint up to the figure. The qunari slid to a stop beside them and the person grabbed a hold of the horned giants harness and heaved themselves onto his back, minding the enormous greataxe strapped to it. They hooked an arm through a strap and exchanged a word with the qunari, too quiet to hear.
“Do try to not get yourselves killed again, I’d like to introduce myself properly at some point” They called as they pulled their daggers out for the first time, flames bursting into existence along the ornate blades. They tapped the qunaris horn sharply and the giant vaulted himself over a nearby wall and off a ledge, both of them disappearing from sight.
Fenris and Hawke stared at each other. Garrett couldn’t decide if it was the most frightening display of casual power he’d ever seen or the strangest.
“We ask Varric about this later.” Fenris concluded, hefting his sword onto his back.
Hawke nodded. Varric knew everyone, he should know about the maniac with a glowing green hand and a personal qunari bodyguard. They both turned back to the battle, which was slowly calming.
Even as they fought through the last of the demons though, Hawke couldn’t help but notice green flares of light coming from the distance. A person who wasn’t even a mage- opening and closing rifts at will, with just a hand?
That was a person to be feared.