The battlefield was where soldiers met their end. It would be a collective grave for many unfortunate enough to fall. The only silver lining was that it would be a quick end. At least... for most.
Sometimes at the end, if there were any survivors from the defeated side, the victors would capture those who have not ran or ran fast enough. What happens to them is determined by the the person who found them and/or the victors. They would be executed then and there, tortured and then killed off, taken as prisoners or slaves - who would work to the bone and/or defiled, or, in the best case scenario, let go as a mercy.
It would seem that it would be the first option for Torvi Birgerdottir, a young battle shaman. At the age of five, she was graced with voices, the classic trait common in shamans. From that point, her destiny was determined and she was put into training. As the years progressed, Torvi grew stronger but so did the voices, becoming louder and louder and telling and asking different things that it became almost unclear what they were saying, even to shamans themselves. But they would learn from their mentors how to understand these voices, to use them for however they see fit. That didn't mean they were safe from the effects of the voices. Most, if not, all fell insane from the constant chatter inside their heads. Torvi is one of them.
This was her first battle as a warrior. She was to return to her village as a victor or at least a survivor but it would seem the fates have planned differently for her.
The battle was to defend a large village near a cliffside. The knights of the Iron Legion were pushing into Valkenheim, steamrolling villages in their wake and taking prisoners as well. She and thousands of others were to delay and weaken them for other villages to prepare and plan a counter attack.
They had the advantage at the beginning, taking a lot of them down as they continued to flood the town but all that changed when they started using catapult fire and men on horses. Not to mention bombs and the like. In the end, Torvi and the thousand fell to the knights in a valiant effort but it was all for not.
Right now, she and other survivors were near the cliffside with their hands tied in front of them and knights at the ready if anything were to happen. One by one, viking after viking were pushed off the cliff to end at the bottom, dead. She was last and the wait was torture.
Torvi knows that today will be her end but by the gods, does she refuse to go down like this. She refuses to die without going out killing. She was sure the gods would smile down on her if she took down at least three of these walking tin men.
The executioner, a peacekeeper, was three bodies away from her.
The ropes they used were somewhat old and after pulling on them for a little, found that it won't take much from her for them to break.
The peacekeeper was behind her and just as she was about to push her off, Torvi brought her hands up to her face and bit hard on the ropes. Using her unusual bite strength, she cut through the ropes immediately and grabbed the peacekeeper by one of her arms. Unprepared, the peacekeeper was unable to grab either one of her blades and was thrown off the cliffside, screaming before landing on the bottom with a sickening crunch.
All knights were on her now and were ready to take her down. A lawbringer charged first and would of impaled her but Torvi side stepped him and threw him off the cliff. It was not done. A couple of centurion leaped at her but Torvi was ready. One was silver while the other was bronze. Torvi targeted the bronze one first. She dodged out from their leaps and body slammed the bronze making him drop his galdius. Torvi quickly grabbed his weapon before cutting his throat. Then he was kicked off the cliff.
Torvi faces the silver centurion before he kicked her in the midsection but not off the cliff. Torvi screams a battle cry before charging him, gladius in hand. He swings left but she blocks and attcking his chest with strong attacks but failed to cut through the armor. The centurion looked at her and taunted her by raising his arms in the air and laughing as he withstood her puny attacks. That was his fatal mistake. As he was taunting, Torvi drove the sword into his leg making him scream out in alarm and pain. He was then grabbed him by his shoulders and tossed him off.
A conqueror then tried bashing her off the edge but Torvi grabbed the shield and engaged in a pushing war with the conqueror. This went on for a few seconds before let go and quickly moved to the side. Not expecting this move the conqueror did not let up from his pushing and ran off the cliff side.
When she turned to face her other opponents, she was then punched in the cheek by a bald woman baring a strange scar on her forehead, a leather coat, and metal plated arms. She was not using any weapons but behind her were her most likely her sword and shield stuck into the ground. She threw another attack but Torvi was able to evade her. Torvi went on the offensive throwing punch after punch at the woman but was was met with blocks from her gauntlets. What was so strange was that the woman's face held little expression, as if she was uninterested in the fact her life was on the line.
Frustrated, Torvi threw her entire body at her in hopes of unbalancing her. It did not. Instead it turned out to be a bad choice as the woman grabbed her by the neck when she lunged and her and squeezed hard. She then brought Torvi over the ledge, dangling her over the drop. Meanwhile Torvi was struggling to get out of the woman's grasp, clawing and trying to kick her but all of that stopped when she saw she was over the edge.
The bald woman spoke in a calm, collected voice. "You fought well. Your gods would be proud of you"
Her words did nothing to Torvi who just laughed. "Heh heh... Baldy". She could have sworn she could have seen her reflection on her head.
The woman sigh in disappointment and tosses her off.
The grin on Torvi's face fell and she let out a loud scream as she plummeted down. This was it, her death. While she never ever questioned the gods in her life, she absolutely refused to believe that this was the fate they had planned for her. To die on her first battle. It couldn't. It couldn't!
But it did. She felt only a millisecond of pain before her world turned black.
For what felt like a few moments, there was nothing. No sound. No sight. There was nothing until suddenly there was.
She suddenly felt air fill her lungs and her heart beat blood to the rest of her body. Out of nothing, her body is popped back alive, no wounds whatsoever.
Confused, Torvi cautionly opened her eyes but when she did, she felt disoriented and sick. Her vision was blurry but her hearing was so clear.
She looked around her to see she was not at the bottom of the cliff but a black void as far as the eye can see.
Where are we?
This is bad. This is bad!
We have to get out!
Look ahead you idiot!
Torvi rubbed her temples to soothe her aching head from the disorientation and the voices before the final voice peaked her interest and she looked ahead and what she saw left her breathless.
What was before her were two giant beings. One was a golden man and the other purple, both glowing their respective colors. They also had horns atop their heads. They looked like gods but that couldn't be. She has no idea who these two are. There is nothing that remotely looks familiar and she knows her own culture and religion.
"What are you even doing with this... thing brother?" the purple one said.
"Think of it as balance. She is the chaos I want to put in Remanent" the gold one replies back.
The golden one turns to Torvi and kneels down. "Listen. Do you want to live?"
Torvi nods her head furiously. What kind of question was that? Of course she wanted to continue living. Who wouldn't? She wanted to continue fighting, like any warrior.
"I am going to send you somewhere dangerous. Do you still accept?"
She nods again. Dangerous? To anyone else, the word was what it meant but to Torvi, that was just another word for major fun time and future battle. Future glory.
The golden man nods in understanding. "Be ready young shaman. For the future ahead of you will be filled with peril as well as the place we are sending you" he then extends his right hand to her, making her step back slightly.
"Brother, come" the golden one indicates to his sibling. The purple sibling sighs and kneels next to his brother and extends his left hand towards Torvi.
"Yeah. Don't fuck this up human 'cause we are not going to bring you back if you die again" the purple man grunted.
"Take one of our fingers Torvi. We will give you a gift before we part"
Torvi is confused slightly from the fact the golden man knew her name without ever telling him but then puts each hand on the big hands in front of her.
The purple and golden man glow and as the glow reaches their hands, the glow touches Torvi and suddenly she glows purple and gold, each eye holding one of the two colors.
The purple and gold around her and in her eyes flicker before setting on a bloody red. She floats while still touching the men and screams a blood curdling scream.
The two brother visibly twitch before taking their hands away from the girl and before Torvi could drop to the floor, the golden man opens a portal under her, letting her fall into Remanent.
The two brothers pant slightly from the ordeal.
"We gave her too much power don't you think?" The purple brother questions.
"It wouldn't change much but I'm more surprised at the fact her body handled it"
"Probably because of her world. They're naturally very strong there from what I've seen" the purple man says. He then speaks in a more amused tone "Think Ozma can handle her?"
The golden man shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?". He then looks to the spot he made the portal. "But one thing is for certain: that shaman is going to shake things up down there"