The creatures of the Fade can only shape what they see in the minds of dreamers. Maybe it's pulling the details from what it's seen in Cullen's dreams, or from someone else who knows Cullen much better than Alistair, but...it's unlikely. Not when it already has Alistair here, alone, at its mercy.

Alistair makes a choked noise -- a wild laugh cut off in its infancy, a sob throttled back to a whimper -- and clutches at Cullen's hand.

"I'm alive."