Rift Portal

Their group met outside the dormitories after finishing packing up a couple of things briefly. The mission was said to be estimated to hold upwards to a couple days. Thomas' party were set to venture outside the capital, north of Renfel inbetween the other two cities, where a giant woodland laid ahead.

It would roughly take their party little over nine hours to arrive. Six hours by horse carriage, then three hours by foot.

"Everyone ready?" Thomas asked and received four nods.

They got onto the carriage and set off towards their scouting location. The plan was to scout the woods which could take up to three or four days, and if a portal was there to engage with caution since the magical meters from the capital picked up low levels one being summoned.

On the ride itself, things were awfully quiet, and to everyone's surprise, the last person expected to talk broke the silence.

"Thanks for what you did back there earlier today…" Emily thanked Ashley for standing up for her in the classroom.

"You would have done the same for me, us girls need to have each other's backs," Ashley gently smiled.

After a few seconds Emily took off her cap and showed everyone her pointy ears, indicating she was a half-elf.

"Sorry for not telling everyone," Emily apologized and held her head down for a second.

"Do not fret it! You must have had your reasons," Corbin grinned and laid back while kicking up his feet.

Tim nodded to agree with Corbin.

"Your ears are so cute! Do you mind if I touch them?" Ashley hinted with her fingers slowly approaching Emily.

"Emm… no… that would be weird!" Emily complained and tried to wave her off.

However Ashley grabbed a hold and began rubbing Emily's ears slightly. Emily's legs went weak and she looked so vulnerable that it was beyond endearing.

"Stop it!" Emily almost moaned out.

Ashley stopped.

"My! It is true, their ears are sensitive, how cute!" Ashley kept her smile.

"Do not worry about her, Ashley has always been a bit random but totally friendly unless you get on her bad side!" Corbin laughed to assure Emily.

"My bad side?!" Ashley started lightly punching Corbin.

"Ouch! Ouch! Come on, cut it out!" Corbin complained.

Everyone laughed and had a good time inside. Emily saw Thomas smiling broadly and knew what he was thinking.

"Told you that you would fit right in!"

Thomas's thoughts were blatantly expressed on his face. Emily stuck out her tongue childlessly towards Thomas as if to tell him to shut up.

No one mentioned anything about discrimination or something bad at all towards elves in general. Thomas felt at ease that Tim and Ashley were more cool and less uptight than other higher status students around the academy. Ashley was of a noble status and Tim was the same as Corbin.

Apparently Tim's family has always served well or allied themselves with the Hale and Dawn families, that is why he is around Ashley and knows Olivia as well.

Corbin and Ashley spun childish stories to tease each other back from middle school, and not before long they arrived. The time flew by and their six hours were up. Thomas and the gang jumped off the carriage and thanked the driver.

"Are you guys ready for a three hours walk?" Thomas tried his best to sound enthusiastic.

Everyone halfly smiled as to indicate they were looking forward to the gruesome walk. It was already evening, and they would arrive a little before midnight there.

"Yeah thought so…" Thomas sighed.

On their way there, Thomas decided it was best to test everyone's knowledge about their set formations and battleplans. A little repetition could not hurt anyone, although Corbin instantly complained about it being a pain and dull exercise.

Upon reaching their destination, on the X-crossed section of the map, the party chose to set up camp. Later they decided on deploying some magical sensors around the area, spanding a mile radius around them, in order to secure their location around the camp.

"Stay close and tell us immediately if you see anything!" Thomas half-shouted cautiously to not alarm if any demons were already outside or patrolled the area.

After deploying their magical sensors they headed back for the night to catch some rest and begin scouting in the morning. They shared a cold meal, since it was risky starting a bonfire.

While setting up two different tents for the boys and girls to sleep separately, Ashley looked around her for a second.

"This area is really creepy at night," Ashley commented and Emily nodded next to her.

"Yeah no doubt," Even Corbin agreed.

The trees were giant and you could not even see the sky during night time. Everyone felt a little bit insecure with just going to sleep in this sort of environment, so Thomas came up with an idea.

"How about us guys take turns in watching over the camp? A little more safety apart from the sensors cannot hurt!" Thomas suggested.

Everyone thought it was a great idea and felt a bit better going to sleep.

"I will have first watch and wake Corbin up in four hours. Good night guys!" Thomas sat on a tree stub in the middle of both tents with his hilt on his lap.

Nothing much happened afterwards. Everyone said good night and it was an uneventful and creepy night for whoever was on watch.

"Morning!" Corbin yawned and stretched out both arms coming out of the tent.

"Morning…" Ashley yawned and covered her mouth.

After some breakfast they headed out to start scouting. The plan was to start westwards and move clockwise.

"Like always… if you see anything, inform the rest of us immediately!" Thomas said right before they spread out in a line formation and kept within eyesight of each other.

It was rather quiet out here, a few birds chirping every here and there. A frog croaked in the distance. But still, there was no real sunlight down here. The forest had glowing leaves instead which slightly illuminated the place during the day. Thomas remembered reading about how the trees in the area absorb sunlight and magic particles in the air then convert them all the way down to their roots.

"Over here! I think I see something!" Tim shouted as best he could.

That was the first time their party had ever heard Tim speak that loudly or said anything at all. In the quiet department, he rivaled Emily.

Everyone rushed towards Tim and grouped up to check it out together as a unit. Upon reaching it up close, there were two purple lines resembling a wall with a dimension in the middle of it and a skull on top. It was about a regular sized door's width.

"We have enough supplies with us right?" Thomas asked and received a few nods.

He gulped before signaling that their party was to head inside. It started with him taking the first step and initiative as the party leader. Thomas tremored a bit as he carefully put his right foot first through, to enter the rift portal.