Out of The Fire, Into The Fade by KingTrashLord on Ao3

(reposted with his permission, he’s my boyfriend @kingtrashlord )

Fighting the symptoms of his anxiety and PTSD from his time in the military, Nikos Callas turns to a popular video game to make his day to day more tolerable. After he becomes an accidental hero in his real life, Andraste decides he’s just what the inquisition needs 

Read Chapter 1 below, or click the link to read it on Ao3

Chapter 1: It All Fades to Black

Sparks engulfed Nikos’ vision.

Flashes of his life: holding his baby sister for the first time, receiving his dog tags, waking up bound and beaten, his screams echoing in the empty room, the ringing in his ears as shrapnel tore his flesh open, being afraid to touch his family, Midnight hot chocolate on the kitchen floor with Thea, playing his first video game since coming home, the monotonous clicking of his keyboard, the damp autumn air ruffling his hair.

The screech of tires; His body going limp as people scream – he screams and his world swirls to black.

***

He woke confused. His back ached from his sprawled and twisted body on sanded stone. Nikos slowly sat up, not entirely sure where he was or how he got there. He was in a hallway made of stone with nothing in terms of decoration besides a few large vases that looked severely out of place and ancient.

Static danced in the back of his mind as he pushed himself off the ground and onto unstable feet. Nikos limped over to the closest vase, favoring his left leg and tried to pick it up.

Nikos was surprised by how light it was compared to its size. He took a deep breath, inhaled two lungs full of dust and started to cough. The vase was very dusty, so much so that when he moved his hands off of the vase he could see distinct marks of where his hands took away some grime. Seeing how Nikos had no idea where he currently was, he didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and hefted the vase into his arm.

It was only in his arms for a few seconds before he started to cough again. He set the vase down and took off his over shirt. He wiped away dust and grime, though he focused around the rim and top half; more concerned about inhaling dust than having it all over his clothes.

Once the vase was cleaner than how he found it, Nikos once again hefted the vase into his arms. He favored his right arm and used his left for support more so than to hold it. With the vase in his grasp and dust no longer clouding his lungs, Nikos looked both left and right down the hallway he was in. They were virtually identical.

Nikos wished he had a coin to toss to choose his direction. He always struggled with making basic choices: like to go left or right, what food to eat, when to wake up and other simple decisions of no greater value. He let out a tired sigh and turned to start his journey left.

He had fumbled with the vase as he tried to open every door he passed. Some were already wide open with nothing of real importance inside. Others were locked tight and without his lock picking set, he had no hopes to see what was inside.

“Is anyone even in this place?” Nikos had wondered aloud. His voice soft as he only spoke to himself. “I like I’ve been here for hours, but that could just be because I’m bored as Hell…”

He continued for a couple minutes, he peaked in doorways and wondered if he had gone the right way. The entire time his mind raced. His surroundings were familiar but he had no idea why, and he felt a kernel of dread form in his stomach.

During his entire trek he didn’t pass any other person, and from what he could tell, he was getting near the end of the hall.

He prayed to whatever deity out there that it wasn’t a dead end and there was a door or something that lead to someplace with another living being. He just hoped it wouldn’t be something hostile. He really didn’t want to fight someone with his only viable “Weapon” on his person being an oversized vase.

Just before he gave up hope on there being a door, he saw a double-wide set of doors crafted out of fine wood. Nikos let his shoulders sag with relief, but was quick to tense up and launch into action as a cry flitted through the thick wooden doors.

“Someone, please help me!” The accented voice sounded strained and so familiar to Nikos. Alarm bells were going off in his head, but his instincts took over.

Without his notice, Nikos forgot about his gimp knee and arm and threw his newly energized body against the doors. They flew open and slammed against the walls with a loud thud. What greeted him made Nikos pause for only a brief second, His flashbacks didn’t register in that moment and his need to protect spurred him into action.

In front of him was a scene from one of his favorite video games. He saw Divine Justinia be suspended in midair while Corypheus held the damned glowing green orb in his nasty clawed hands.

“Hey, Fugly!” Nikos shouted to gain Corypheus and his cronies’ attention, “Let the old lady go!”

Nikos relied solely on his instincts and threw his only possible weapon with adrenaline-fueled strength and watched as it flew through the air and smashed against Corypheus’s gross spindly skeletal body.

When the vase shattered against the red lyrium covered man, Divine Justinia was able to smack the orb out of Corypheus’s hand and in Nikos’ general direction.

Without thinking of the consequences, or what was even happening, Nikos crouched and grabbed the orb with his left hand like he did when he played catch with his dad.

“Grab the elf!” He heard Corypheus roar and watched as the man seemed to glide over the floor and charged forward.

Before he could be caught, Nikos gasped as an acidic green light enveloped him and once again, within an indeterminate amount of time, his vision left him.

***

Nikos came back to consciousness on his hands and knees. His chest shook with heavy breaths and nearly choked once he took notice of the sinister green mist that surrounded him.

“Where the Hell am I?” He coughed and stood up. The ground was covered in jagged rocks. Only the thin soles of his worn sneakers kept the sharp points from cutting his feet apart.

If this wasn’t a dream somehow, Nikos could only guess that this was the fade. He couldn’t tell if this was a really vivid dream, if he was high or if this was actually happening somehow. The only proof he had that pointed to the latter was the scrapes that burned the palms of his hands.

He wandered aimlessly for a while. He avoided stepping in puddles or any form of liquid and tried to find a way out. If this was a dream he should be able to just envision himself out of the fade. Maybe… If this was really actually happening Nikos had only the fainted idea of how to escape the fade. He needed to find Divine Justinia and if he was lucky, get them both out of the fade alive.

He tried to keep an eye out for a path that would maybe lead him to that weirdly steep hill, but he couldn’t see anything of the sort. He tried to keep his pace steady, but when a crescendo of skittering legs reached his ears made a shiver shoot down his spine, he took off into a sprint away from the sound.

Skittering followed him as he ran and Nikos whipped his head around rapidly. He broke out into a cold sweat as he remembered the opening scenes of inquisition.

“They’re all around me…” Nikos panted and cursed his lack
of exercise from the last couple years. Just when Nikos caught sight of the
mountain he felt his foot catch on a rock. “Shit!”

Nikos ended up eating gravel but he pushed himself forward. He couldn’t let the spiders catch him. He couldn’t die like this.

“Divine Justinia!” Nikos called out. He saw her distinct silhouette atop the mountain. “Get out of here!”

Justinia stayed despite Nikos’ cry and urged him to keep running. It felt like an eternity, but he finally made it to the top with a swarm of spiders on his tail.

“Come on!” Nikos grabbed the elder woman’s offered arm
and tugged her towards the glowing green portal in front of them. “We gotta go!”

He led her toward their only exit when she dropped to her knees. She was caught on something and had fallen forward. Nikos tried to help her up, tried to save her, but she looked up at him with an unsettling resolve in her eyes. Divine Justinia was accepting her fate – no. She was sacrificing her life for his.

“I’m not leaving you here to die!” His voice cracked

“No you’re not” she protested, “You are saving your life and many others!”

After she freed herself from Nikos’ grasp she pushed him away as hard as she could. Nikos let out a dry sob and turned away from the woman who saved him and fell through the portal.

“Maker guide you young one.”

He watched through hazy vision as armored warriors approached him demanding answers to unheard questions.

All that raced through Nikos’ head was his failure.

“She died for me…” He collapsed into a heap for the third time and prayed that this was all just a dream.