"Dead!" said Cassandra shouting back at the group behind her as she pulled her sword from the corpse of a despair demon.
The Herald of Andraste moved towards the fade rift that had collapsed in on itself and set about closing the portal, she raised her hand and the fade magic was conjured. With a forceful implosion the rift disappeared from the now blissfully quiet country side.
The Inquisition team had ventured deep into the Hinterlands wilderness south of Redcliffe Farm, Elise Trevelyan had gathered her team from Haven in the hope of expelling the remaining rifts from the area.
"Just one left now," said Elise securing her staff to her back,"then we can get out of this place, feels like I've been here for months".
"Wait which one's left?" Said Sera catching up to the Herald and Cassandra.
"The one in the river, by the farm" said Elise.
"Arse balls!" Said Sera, "that's the one we nearly died at! Twice!"
"I know, but we can't just leave it there crapping out demons."
"Charming," said Vivienne who had sauntered over to the group, she turned to Sera. "Relax darling you've got me with you this time."
"Whatever Vivi, you'll see, it's a right shit."
"Besides, Cassandra's the one who should be worried," said Elise, "wouldn't catch me running at those big fire slug demons, shield or no shield".
"Ugh…Shall we continue?" asked Cassandra.
_o0OoO0o_o0OoO0o_o0OoO0o_o0OoO0o_
Cautious footsteps scale down the rocky ground and reach the river bed. A group of mages move through the shallow stream. The force of the current surprises them causing them to steady their footing.
Five mages all of whom looked not to have slept properly in days, dirt and blood stain their robes, they move closer to a dormant rift floating metres above them, the green crystal-like formation mutates as they drawn closer.
"You're sure about this Dina?" Said a nervous looking human, "I've seen these things at work, they're dangerous."
"And once we study them we will be too", said Dina leading the group to the rift, "think of it, the Templars running in fear from us…we would no longer be the victims, we will be heard."
"What good would that do?" said a dark haired female elf," we'd just be victimising others, is that really helping?"
"Don't be naive Skylar", said Dina,"since the conclave was destroyed there's no help to go round, we're on our own."
The five of them arrive at the rift and look upon the foreign construction.
"What do you have in mind Dina?" Said the human.
"It needs to be contained, the four of you will concentrate your magic around it and constrict it, then I will begin testing, yes?".
They nod and position themselves around the rift, they simultaneously begin casting a force spell that surrounds the crystal.
Dina steps below the rift and begins weaving his hands in a complex motion, glyphs of light illuminate around him as he begins his testing on the fade crystal. Minutes pass as the testing continues, more and more spells are administered and nothing changes, until a sound of thunder rumbles from the rift, as if the ancient lock of a long closed door was finally unbolted.
The four mages casting their barrier spells are all thrown from their feet, separated in the water. Dina looks around at his fallen comrades, confused at what is happening he turns back to the rift which to his horror has morphed into the glowing portal seen when activated,
He turns round and begins running for the rocky cover he and the group came from, "Run!" he shouts back to his friends who had just recovered from the earlier blast.
Dina made it three steps before being shoved aside by the fade rift energy, he turned to see a terror demon standing above him ready to swipe, it's claws were nearly upon him but never made contact, in the last instant a figure had leapt over him and tackled the demon to the floor.
Turning to look at his rescuer he saw a man, a warrior with shield and sword, rising from the water and fighting the demon back, he grunts and shouts as he fights towards the group of demons that spawned and were now attacking the other mages. He began taunting them away from the mages while Dina got to his feet and continued running away from the conflict.
"There's no chance! We must leave," said Dina shouting back to his fellow mages.
They all began following him to the cliffs leaving the warrior to fend off the group of demons bent on ripping him to pieces, alone he stands and fights against the fade monsters. He blocks well, occasionally countering the attacks thrown at him, but inevitably is caught off guard, the wraiths had moved to a high vantage point and were firing down at his flank, struck in the back by a spirit blast he does his best to parry the incoming hits from the demons that surround him, his guard falls as a rage demon comes to finish him, but his attack does no damage, it was then the warrior noticed a faint blue aura surrounding him, he turns to see the female elf Skylar had returned and was firing frost attacks at the wraiths above. Spurred on by his new teammate the man rose to his feet and let out a fearsome war cry drawing the fire but maximising his guard, and with his shield still in his arm and a comrade to fight with he jumped back once more into the fight.