(@sworntoprotect)
Well, this was...most certainly not what the commander had wanted to happen today. Or any day, really. He could have honestly gone the entirety of the rest of his life without being back in this place again. The day had started out normally enough; waking before dawn, reading some reports, training the recruits. But then it was announced that the inquisition would begin a study on the time magic used by Alexius in Redcliffe Castle. They would not have learned of the plot to assassinate Celene without it, so surely it had other uses if it could be understood. At least that was what the Inquisitor had suggested. Naturally though such experimental magic was bound to be a danger. Perhaps that was how Cullen now found himself returned to the one place he never wished to see.
Kinloch Hold.
He knew it the moment he laid eyes on the stonework, his ears ringing with the screams and cries of the tortured that echoed through the hall. He was back in the tower during the blight. Bidding himself to wake up, he squeezed his eyes shut, muttering a prayer under his breath. No effect; it seemed his prayers would hold no power here. He could still smell the stench of death, hear the horrid screams. When he opened his eyes, he knew he wouldn’t be returning from this nightmare that simply. So, he steeled himself and pressed onward, metal boots clacking and scraping against the stone floors. As he ascended the tower, he carved a bloody path through twisted abominations and demonic creatures who’s wretched faces haunted his dreams so often. Finally, just before reaching the final floor, he came upon an all too familiar sight. A humming cage made up of a burning purple energy, and a man trapped inside. Silently, he approached, kneeling down and staring at...himself. Near ten years in the past.
