She could feel the ache deep in her bones as she limped away from the heat of the battle that raged too close behind her. An arrow had sunk deep into her thigh and in the pained haze all she could think to do was move to the back lines to find a healer. Hobbling as fast as her leg would allow, leaning heavily on her stave, she yelled for attention before thick set arms found her and set her down gently onto the ground. The older man quickly inspected her wound and pulled out his mana infused wand before he got to work lacing his spells around her leg. The warm tingle of magic washed over her as he removed the offending shaft and knit the torn muscle and flesh back together. Once certain that she was fine he gave her a draw on his water-skin before he sent her back towards the battle field.

With her new found strength she gripped her staff with new found confidence before returning to her place in the battle. Before she could reach the front lines a loud shout rang across the field.

"Man down!" With a sigh she quickly took a knee on the ground, as did everyone on the battle field, while some first aiders rushed over to where the ref had shouted. She craned her neck to see who had gotten hurt before she noted a familiar face, blood streamed down his nose and his eye looked quite bruised but it appeared he wasn't as badly hurt as he appeared as the first aiders gave him a quick check over before deciding it was okay for them to continue. Once they were clear the ref gave the signal and everyone rose and continued where they had left off. As she cast a shatter spell she noticed the ref walking off the field talking into his radio and looking a little more excited than he should for a routine skirmish. Dread filled her before she understood why he looked so pleased.

Thick fog rolled over the long grass field, she was impressed with the effects budget, and a large figure emerged from the shadows. A large green dragon loped towards them and she could feel the atmosphere change. They were supposed to be terrified but every player was thrilled that they would be fighting a dragon, no one knew it was happening and it looked amazing. She guessed there had to be at least three people operating the thing as it swung around spitting poison fog from its papier-mâché jaws.

The captain rallied their group around him as he yelled his orders and pointed out known weakness for the creature, he lifted his sword and with zeal roared "For Kavala!"

After the battle was done their group returned to their camp victoriously showing off the head of the dragon that they had slain. Though it wasn't the actual head, the crew had worked really hard on the monster costume and wanted to use it again later, they had provided a large foam dragon skull that the players could show off and show off they did.

Around the large campfire that was situated in the middle of their nations camp the bards told grand tales of how the brave warriors had slain the terrible dragon. She sat with a tankard of honey mead in her hand as she listened to the tales and was impressed that the bard had managed to come up with a half decent song off the cuff, though she recognised the basic tune and words from a song she heard on the radio a few days before the event.

"Arainia! I trust you fared well on the skirmish, I heard tell of a dragon!" At the sound of her character's name she turned and smiled brightly at the war painted face of her friend and IC brother.

"Aye, brother. T'was a battle for the ages, 'tis a tragedy you missed it." She laughed at his soured expression, he had been called away for a meeting with the clergy and as a high priest he had no choice but to attend. Quickly offering him some of her mead his expression brightened allowing her to regale him with what he had missed. It was a shame really as he had been a warrior at the last event but had died heroically and decided this time he would try his luck as a priest. The only reason he had agreed to come LARPing with her in the first place was that she had promised he could fight a dragon if he went.

"Sister, your coven were planning to go on a twilight mission tonight and asked me to tell you." He told her after they had caught up "They said they had finally located some artefact that you had shown interest in obtaining."

"Thank you Tyrion," He wasn't very original with names "I will go then. Don't drink all my booze." She smirked as she broke character slightly before making her way towards her coven's tent. In the character pack she had gotten when she signed in at the beginning of the previous event she had gotten an extra slip of paper with some personal plot for Arainia that was intriguing. It read that her elf-blood had been calling her to search for an ancient artefact that would be of great significance to their kingdom. Personally she felt like it was a bit of a Mary-Sue quest but since she had very little personal plot up until that point she thought it would at least be fun to roleplay.

Dusk had settled by the time the coven was organised enough to go out into the 'portal' that would transport them to the area of the artefact. The 'portal' was in fact a large wooden arch that players would walk through and then have to trudge off to various areas of the site before they 'arrived' at their destinations. The six of them followed the black and yellow tabard of the ref, commonly known as a bumble bee, to the forested area of the camp site and then eventually to a cave with runes glued onto the entrance. The head of the coven strode towards the entrance confidently before the bumble bee told her that when she tried to enter the cave there was a barrier preventing entry. As a seasoned player, she was one of the best to role play with, she quickly tested out different ways to dispel the shield but the ref simply rebuffed each attempt.

"Arainia suddenly feels a strong pull of magic from the cave. The sensation builds when she gets closer to it." He told them after he had stopped to listen from his ear piece.

"Myra, the artefact is within I can feel it." She told the coven despite the fact that they already knew this. The coven leader, Myra, quickly deduced that since Arainia was the only elf in the coven tha barrier had to be race filtered.

With the encouragement of the others she stepped up to the cave entrance and made to step through it, aware that the ref could stop her at any moment.

"You feel the familiar wave of magic but your way is not barred." He told them as she then stood fully within the mouth of the cave, he gave her a piece of paper with instructions on what she would find and what she was looking for before he leaned in to give her some final info. "The cave is shallow and there are lit candles in there. The ritual will take a few minutes then return looking drained of magic but safe." She smiled at him before she turned to walk deeper into the cave.

As promised it was a short walk and well-lit inside, there were tables covered with faux furs and arcane looking objects like crystals, potions, small wooden chests and in the very centre of the cavern was a tall dulled mirror. Referring back to the paper she had been given she began the ritual. It was nothing more than some muttered gibberish, sprinkling of the coloured water potions and a flourish of her staff. When her roleplay was finished she opened the small wooden box and pulled out a tacky looking plastic amulet. Satisfied she turned to leave the cave but a shimmer of light suddenly coming to life caught her attention causing her to spin around. The simple looking mirror was glowing and almost seemed to ripple, confused she checked the prompt sheet and nodded when she confirmed there was nothing about the mirror glowing in its contents.

Curious she stepped closer and noticed that her reflection was not shown but instead a large ancient looking ruin stared back at her. Clearly the crew were better funded than she had initially thought.

Almost without any comprehension she reached out and allowed her fingers to gently brushed against the fluid looking surface. Before she knew what had happened she felt a hard yank and she was pulled roughly through the glowing mirror. Disorientated she stumbled out the other side before she heard glass shatter behind her but her attention was nowhere near focuses on the broken mirror. Instead her gaze was unequivocally devoted to the large and terrifying green tear in the sky above her.

"What the actual fuck?"