Prologue:

Ellana Lavellan stood, arm outstretched towards the swelling, green rift in front of her. Sweat poured down her back as she gripped at an invisible thread and pulled with all her strength, successfully mending the rift and defeating the pride demon with an explosion of magical electricity. She fell to her knees, panting and grinning, and listened to the soldiers behind her roar in celebration and triumph.

Her grin fell, however, when she noticed a body lying not 10 feet away from her. Ellena rose to her feet in panic, grasping for the daggers she had dropped in exasperation and sheathing them on her back. She had been painfully aware of the bodies that dropped as they struggled against the demon, and was achingly sorry for the loss, but the frail body in front of her looked nothing like one of Haven's soldiers. Ellena turned and frantically scanned the crowd of cheering men and woman for a familiar face; she spotted a recognizable ring of braids.

"Cassandra!" she cried, the dark haired seeker turned to face Ellena, her expression relieved.

"You did it, I can't believe it!" Cassandra declared, jogging towards her.

"Yes, I-I did but…" Ellena motioned to the body on the ground with her marked hand. It was covered in ash and blood, but not petrified like the other corpses scattered around the conclave, and wearing what she could only describe as a tunic and trousers. She knelt down next to it, wiping the grime off to reveal the face of a human boy.

Cassandra tsked and shook her head, "There were many casualties, Ellena. It is enough to see you mourn them. The Mak-"

"He is alive!" she gasped. Ellena rested her hand on his chest, feeling it rise and fall with airy and trembling breaths. "We need a healer for him!" She looked pleadingly at Cassandra.

Cassandra's brows shot up and uncrossed her arms to wave a couple of soldiers over. They gently hoisted the boy onto a plank of wood before carrying him towards the conclave entrance. Cassandra nodded and turned back to lecture the elf on how to properly deal with injured soldiers but, before she could get her first word in, Ellena fell to her side, exhaustion overwhelming her and blackness overtaking her.

Chapter One

Clay let out a sigh and watched his hot breath evaporate into chilled, spring air. It seemed, by fate, that whatever power controlled the weather had decided that rain was due at 3 pm precisely that day; the exact time when Clay would be fired from his full-time job and stepping outside with a box of his important shit. He fished out his umbrella, relieved he had remembered to stuff one in his already bursting bag that morning or, at least, happy his mother chided him into bringing one.

He moved up the sidewalk, struggling to carry the large cardboard box and an umbrella at the same time. It was hard enough walking that way when everyone else on the street wasn't also holding an umbrella, not giving two shits about anyone else trying to walk. Clay grumbled as the battled the slipping box as he made his way towards his apartment building, thankfully only a few blocks away from his job. Ex-job.

"Someone help me!"

Clay stopped suddenly, causing a small commotion from commuters around him. He looked around, searching for the whereabouts of the voice and checking if anyone else had reacted. No one around him had stopped like he had; either no one else cared or he was the only one who heard it. He shook his head and kept walking.

"Someone help me! Please!"

The voice called with more urgency. It sounded like an old woman, frightened and distressed. Clay searched for someone with a confused or startled expression. He had no luck; everyone was either looking down at their phones or staring straight ahead and walking fast. Looking forward, he noticed a fading green light emanating from a closeby alleyway. Clay speed-walked awkwardly toward it, unable to run due to the fact that his was clutching his belongs to his chest while performing a balancing act with his umbrella. As he got closer the voices grew louder.

"Keep the sacrifice still!"

Clay set his stuff down delicately and sidled up to the wall under an overhang, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Ready to snap a picture, he turned the corner, expecting to see a mugging or some kind of hold-up taking place. Instead Clay came across a large, crackling, green energy floating in the middle of an alley about five feet up from the ground. Clay stepped backwards and investigated the alleyway, hoping to spot some kind of projector on the walls around him. Must be some kind of street art.

"What's going on here?!"

"Run while you can! Warn them!"

"We have an intruder."

Clay walked cautiously towards the glowing crack, there was movement inside; it looked like it could be a screen suspended by wires. He reached his hand out toward it to check the density when he felt a strong pull towards the center. Before he knew it, Clay's body was being sucked into the glowing screen. He cried out and reached for a handhold so he could pull himself back, but there was nothing to keep him from being engulfed in the crackling electricity. The last thing he saw before he was enveloped was the bustling streets of his city, and not a single onlooker.

His cry caught in his throat as he landed painfully on very solid ground. Clay sat up, and clutched the back of his head, a sharp pain etching through his skull when he moved. He searched his surroundings, his eyes still stunned from the electric green. As the imprints in his sight faded, the world around him became littered with ash, flames, and green energy. Clay started, panic seizing his body as a whirlwind of conclusions raced through his mind, a terrorist attack? An earthquake? A burst gas pipe? Clay scrambled to his feet and immediately howled in pain as his left leg crumpled beneath him, broken. He looked above him to the sky and saw the screen he had found in the alleyway, no, this one was at least ten times as big, floating directly overtop of him at least 20 metres off the ground.

An ungodly screeching turned his attention in front of him, a huge demon-like monster was edging towards Clay, gliding over the rubble and… corpses?! Clay was in full panic mode, pushing the ground with his good leg in a desperate attempt to create space between him and the monster making it's way towards him. He whimpered out cries of help as he did so, finally screening his surroundings for someone other than dead bodies and murderous creatures. It was hard to see through the cloud of green light and ash that illuminated the encompassing area, but he did spot a group of, what seemed to him as either medieval soldiers but could be larpers, making their way towards the green tear. He cried louder, and coughed, choking on the frigid and smoky air.

Clay scrambled to find a projectile, he picked up a large rock and lobbed it at the monster who roared and sped up towards him. Out of options, Clay shielded his face with his arms and screamed as loud as possible, hoping someone with a weapon would take notice. He heard a thump as the creatures long arm lashed out and clipped the side of his head. He cried in agony and slapped his palm over what he now assumed was his mangled ear. The blood ran fast from the wound, but Clay could no longer tell whether it was his blood or the blood of the corpses surrounding him. His breath grew weaker as the light dimmed around him; he was slowly growing unconscious as he bled out. He watched one of the soldiers slash through the belly of the creature, and step over it to tread away from Clay, before he was out cold.