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Herald's Prophet

Summary:

When Emma and her ex-boyfriend are transported to Thedas, she serves as his guide because she knows this world. She has played this game. The characters are fun. The commander is smoking hot. The plot is at her whims.

That is, until she realizes this version of Thedas is a lot darker and less predictable than she expected and she lets down everyone around her at least once. Eventually she'll have to grow up and stop playing. It's not a game anymore.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: Prison

Notes:

***Warning!! I have started rereading this to reacquaint myself before I pick it back up to continue on with and it is a) such crack-fic, b) totally inconsistent nonsense, and c) not exactly great writing. That being said, it goes some fun places so I'm still going to continue with it! I hope you find something to enjoy in here :)

Also, I think the writing gets better as it goes on? I mean, this genuinely starts as a series of little scenes from my head that I started putting on paper just so I could stop cycling on them and then at some point I started to add plot. You've been warned.***

Chapter Text

“I just want you to know that I still love you.”

“I still love you too.”

“Maybe one day we can be friends?”

“I’d really like that.”

“Just… maybe not quite yet.”

Emma laughed. “No. I think I’ll need some space for a bit first.”

John shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Thanks for bringing me my stuff.”

They’d been standing outside the coffee shop for a stupidly long time. They didn’t go in, even though they were getting soaked in the rain. Sitting for a coffee together, like everything was normal, felt too difficult. At the same time, this wasn’t a simple hand-off of goods. Neither was quite ready to say goodbye, even though they knew they were terrible together. Emma was holding a box of John’s stuff in her arms and she had neither handed it to him yet, nor had he reached for it.

“Well, fuck, eh?” She grinned at him wryly.

“Yeah, fuck.” John slowly reached for the box and she held it out to him. At that moment, a bolt of lightning crashed down towards them. Somehow, they had the time to look up. Emma thought Is that lightning green? and then everything went black.

--

Emma was trying really hard not to cry. She woke up expecting to be in a hospital bed and found herself in some kind of prison cell. The floor and walls appeared to made of stone bricks and iron bars blocked her exit. There was a bedroll in the corner. It was cold. At first, she had assumed she was dreaming but it had been at least an hour and nothing had happened. She hadn’t woken up, nothing dream-like had happened, her pinches and pacing had produced no results. This was like no dream she had ever experienced. She was simply stuck in this cell, alone and cold.

After another half hour or so, she heard footsteps from the right. “Hello?” she called. “Who’s there. Why am I here?”

A strangely accented voice exclaimed something unintelligible and the footsteps quickened towards her. Emma was not prepared for who came into view. A woman with short, black hair and scars on her face began unlocking the door, while another woman with shoulder-length red hair stood beside her. An armoured cuirass emblazoned with an eye and dagger was all too familiar. I know these women. Emma blinked really hard - and then pinched herself again for good measure. She was pretty sure she wasn’t dreaming.

The woman with the scars and dark hair strode in quickly and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders. “Tell me who sent you. Tell me why you did it.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Emma protested. And then, even though she knew it was a bad idea, she asked, “are you Cassandra?”

“You will call me Seeker Pentaghast. This proves it.” She had turned to look back at the other woman. Leliana. “She is a spy. An infiltrator. She did this.”

“I still do not believe she is a spy, Cassandra. Look at her strange clothes. And what spy would be so stupid as to admit they know you?” Emma looked down at her plaid shirt, skinny jeans, Blundstones, and she blushed. Clothing chosen for comfort on a difficult day. She likely did look quite strange to them.

Cassandra turned back towards Emma. “How do you know me? You are not from the Chantry. You are not anyone I recognize.”

Instead of answering, Emma was struck with a sudden thought and thrust her hand up in front of her face. No mark. Thank goodness. Cassandra sneered at her. “Do you look for the mark? You are not the one who has it. It is one of your companions.”

“One of my companions? How many of us fell through the rift?” Oh man, Emma thought. Every word coming out of my mouth makes me sound more complicit.

“So you admit you are working together! Tell me why I should not kill you right now.”

Emma trembled. She was not the Herald and without the magic in her hand, she had nothing with which to defend herself. And yet, if ever there was a time for boldness. “Because you’re a good person Cassa- Seeker Pentaghast, and you do not go about killing defenseless prisoners when you have no evidence they have done anything wrong.”

Cassandra grunted noncommittally but Leliana seemed to give a small smirk. The bard was terrifying in person, her cowl and chain mail shifting in the dim torchlight and making her appear all the more enigmatic, and Emma was glad she wasn’t registering as a threat to her. A voice from elsewhere in the jail called out. “Seeker, the marked one is stable.” Is that Solas?

“Cassandra - Seeker, wait. Before you go please just tell me - is the marked one dressed strangely like me? Or is it someone else?”

Cassandra scowled before leaving, notably without answering her question.

A groggy voice from the dark of the cell across the way called out. “H-hello? Umm… Emma?” A flood of relief washed over her. It wasn’t him. John would be so lost as Inquisitor. She couldn’t imagine him having to go out and fight demons. John also wasn’t familiar with the- Her thoughts stopped. Am I really thinking I’m in the world of a game? This makes no sense.

“John! I’m here. Are you okay?”

“I - where are we? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t know where we are,” she lied. She couldn’t exactly say they were in a video game while others could hear them. She also didn’t want to freak John out or make him think she’d gone off the rails.

Suddenly Cassandra appeared back at her cell. “Convince me that you are not responsible for this. Tell me the truth of how you know me.”

Emma tried to think. What do I do? Her thoughts felt so fuzzy, but she knew she had to say something or she would look uncooperative and be even worse off.

“Cassandra, I know who you are because I have seen you. I- I have seen you in my dreams. I am not from here.” She gestured to her clothes. “Obviously. I do not know how I got here but I... know about the Breach because I have seen it.” The lie may have been a bad idea, but what else could she say?

“Tell me what you know about the Breach.” Cassandra looked like her grips on the cell bars could tear them apart.

Emma thought she might piss herself, she was so scared. “I know that the mark can close it.”

“So Solas was right?” Leliana appeared again.

Emma nodded.

“She must be some sort of abomination. A demon has possessed her.” Cassandra said.

“Solas said she had no magic. He sensed no demon. Cullen also sensed nothing.”

“I’m not a mage. At least, I can’t do magic.” Emma tried to look more calm than she felt. “I just… I just see things. I know things.” She was digging herself deeper in the lie but it was the closest thing to the truth that might be explainable.

“Then help us,” Cassandra hissed. “Maybe then you will be allowed your freedom.”

Emma thought carefully. How could she help? “When the one with the mark wakes,” she said slowly, “take them to the Breach yourself Cassandra. They cannot close it yet, but they can stabilize it - stop it from growing. They can also close the smaller rifts spitting demons across the land.”

Cassandra narrowed her eyebrows. “This was already our plan.” She paused. “Why do you believe they cannot close it?”

“I have simply seen it... Also, be prepared. I believe a Pride Demon will be attracted to you there and you will have to defeat it before you can stabilize the Breach.”

“What else can you tell us?” Leliana sounded utterly fascinated. Emma looked at her pityingly as she recollected more and more of the scene to come.

“You will see there a memory of what happened before the explosion. You will see that the Divine was attacked by someone. It will be... unpleasant.”

“Who attacked her? You must tell us more.” Cassandra’s expression belied the authority she was trying to maintain. The reference to the Divine was distressing to them both.

Emma shook her head. Not a chance. “I cannot. I know no more.” She wasn’t sure what her interference will have done. If she was wrong, she might be killed. An uncomfortable feeling tugged at her gut and she was compelled to add one more thing. “Wait. There is a chance, when the time comes, to save some of Leliana’s people. Go through the mountain. It’s worth the risk.”

Hopefully she hadn't fucked this up already.