Thread: Portal - The Rise of a Mage (Black_Out/Iridel)

As Almeta was lost in the depths of shock while her body and mind were absorbed in the throbbing throes of pain that pulsed from her mangled hands and severed tongue she may have not noticed, but the priest was the next to come through the swirling layers of red that hovered over the small, but ever growing pile of corpses that had not made it far from their arrival into their new harsh reality. He landed with a thud, gasping up blood as his hands clamped around his slit throat and he splayed out upon the ground, his body rolling down the pile of corpses and eventually lodging into place as he sputtered up the last gasp of his life as the pile of death grew again. Yet more came through in random intervals that were never far apart as Almeta was finding her feet, most were battered and bruised, especially so in the early ranks of the people the portal spat out upon the pile of dead corpses beneath it. Wild eyes gazed about in abject horror as more joined her as the sun was working it's way towards the horizon and by any reasonable estimate Almeta figured she had at least several hours of day light left before darkness would sweep over the mysterious lands she found herself surrounded by. There was a modest hill though, perhaps several hundred yards away from the Portals place of egress, though in her current exhausted state that distance seemed immeasurable. Soft and lush patches of grass beckoned from it though while a thin stream of crystal clear water that shone with the dancing reflection of the sun upon it's tantalizingly refreshing surface bent and curled it's way down from a hidden source atop the hill and eventually turned to the south and was lost in rolling hills filled with shrubs and thickets that led towards a forest that peppered about the distant horizon. She found other's in far better shape passing her by, scattering in different directions, most were headed towards the hill though. An older man, perhaps about her Father's age came along beside her and without saying a word he scooped the smaller Almeta up in his grasp and carried her towards the base of the hill. His body displayed some of the Inquisition's handiwork but for the most part he had not suffered as badly as the majority had. Still though he was exhausted from the ordeal, as everyone was, and he gently settled Almeta down in the soft grasses at the edge of the stream and then promptly walked up the hill, until his steps fumbled and he simply dropped into the grasses and took to rest. Even in her dazed and shocked state, Almeta recognized a variety of useful plants that were growing in moderation about the edges of the clear spring waters that ran down from the top of the hill. It had taken an hour for Almeta to have come this far, and that was with the aid of the older man with the crop of dusty gray hair that was sprawled out from exhaustion some ten feet up the hill from her. By now, the last of the first fifty prisoners from her home town had come through the portal. Over a third of them were already dead and now a part of the monument of death that awaited each new arrival into these strange and dangerous lands.