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Short Story: The Red Room

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“How did I become such a monster?” He whispered into the dark. Streams and rivers fall over stone and carve away the sandy and dusty surface. In time, it will etch holes that are both smooth and rough. Divots of hard matter removed due to the persistence of water. He ponders if the same effect could happen with red lyrium? Not that he would be around to ever see the finished effect. Here in this cell, he can hear the water churn and fall past the opening, it’s soothing in a manner that takes away from the pain in his gut. He carves his own mark in stone with his eyes. A figure eight pushes him into a trance like state, the rhythm broken only by the sound of a clanking chain on his prison bars. He looks up to see the Inquisitor, then turns …show more content…

“No, you won’t be going to Kirkwall, or to any other prison for that matter.” Samson snorts, “Setting me free? You would let me rot in the wilderness with the possibility of harming others?” “No. You are to accompany the man formerly known as Warden Blackwall, now Thom Rainier, to Wiesshupt. The wardens have agreed to try and see if the joining may be able to -- help you.” Samson laughs. The echoes of guttural guffaw reverberate louder than the fall of the water. “This is a trick? Yes? Are you serious?” “Deadly,” she says and tilts her head mockingly to one side. “A noble idea, I’m sure. Are you doing this to piss someone off? Because you cannot possibly think I can be saved in this manner.” “It’s worth trying. Better to have you die in the joining or the deep roads than as the martyr you think you are. Obscurity should fit you well. Plus the added bonus – if it works, and we capture more straggling Red Templars – your Red Templars, we may be able to save them from the corruption. Consider it your last duty to the Inquisition as well as to the men and women who followed you into service with Corypheus. You may not care about the Inquisition, but you care about them, …show more content…

“Good. It’s settled then. There will be two Inquisition soldiers accompanying you and Rainier,” she says. “Are they to put me down if I try and abscond?” he asks. She laughs loudly as she strides away from the cell. Before she leaves she turns back to him, “You won’t.” The door slams behind her and Samson is left to contemplate the exchange. What if it does ‘save’ him? Would that also mean those not too far gone with corruption could be saved too? He snorts. The wardens differ from Templars in the fact there is a significant number of criminals in the ranks, something his order frowned upon, although that didn’t prevent corruption, as he well knew. But if it meant his loyal soldiers could live to fight again, under a new banner-- “And no allegiance to the Chantry,” he mutters. He wonders how the new divine Victoria, herself a spy in the night and comfortable with more unconventional ideas, might look upon such a suggestion. “A warden? Warden Samson?” He chuckled before turning back to the wall. He traces a new shape with his finger. Callouses rub against gritty stone and he watches as the shape morphs into a

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