The 13th Excursion

Surviving

Their faces are buffeted by winds from nowhere, their bodies are pulled in every direction imaginable by forces beyond their control. They choke as the inky blackness of the portal swallows them whole and infiltrates their very being. Every breath is a challenge, every thought is sparked by thousands more of pain. They are falling into an abyss of which there is no escape, no freedom, just dark. Isabelle and Klawz stumble out of the other end of the portal and to their knees, slamming into the mud. Beside her Klawz retches through his mask and Isabelle grips fistfuls of mud to prevent herself from throwing up.
''Ugh. I forgot how useless you guys are. Don't even practice portal hopping.. idiots.'' Yujens voice is clear and cold. The air is cool and clear, a soft breeze caresses their ears and soft droplets of rain drop tickle their heads. As Isabelle's stomach regains it's composure she's finally able to sit back and take in her surroundings. They are on some sort of plain with rolling green grass for as far as she is able to see, although as it's pretty dark she can't see all that much. The light she can see by comes from torches set and lit at intervals in the ground, throwing a soft and warm light, bathing them in orange. Oh and the pits. As soon as her senses came back her nose was assaulted with a foul stench, the smell of death, of decay and of rotting flesh. The smell coming from some of the pits, the smell that as soon as it was noticed permeated every aspect of her being and of this place. In horror Isabelle clamps her stomach to prevent her throwing up a second time. Klawz seemed equally as dazed, lifting his mask just above his mouth to throw up further with an awful gurgling sound.

''Grow up and get to work.'' Yujen turns and addresses the two, Isabelle catching a glimpse of his eyes burning with anger and hate through her own swimming vision. ''You're not here to sit around. Rockiun will instruct you from here. Do not disappoint me.'' With this the red robed wizard steps back through the portal as the darkness swirls around him and winks out of existence. Coughing and trying to stand Isabelle examines the pits, they are dug into the ground by the torches. Dirty muddy paths link the paths going from area to area. Some of the pits are filled in with loose fresh dirt but others are empty, however Isabelle isn't able to see into them. A wizard stands nearby, he is large and thick wearing grey robes and a wilting hat upon his bushy brown hair. His voice cuts the air and behind their masks Isabelle and Klawz wrinkle their noses in disgust as they recognise the figure before them.
''We've uh, got a lot of work to do. Let's get going.'' His voice is unsure and light. Isabelle clenches her fist, although she had never heard his name before she knew who he was. The Void Walkers had ran into him before when he tried to kidnap women in the markets of Dewlight, they had ran into him when he gave them a love pendant and tried to capture them, they ran into him last at the wizards tower where he kept the people he kidnapped. Isabelle held nothing but hate for the pathetic figure before her and steps forward to beat him into the ground, her nails digging into her palms and drawing a little blood.
''Isabelle, don't.. he might be our way out of here..'' Klawz whispers and lays a gentle palm on her shoulder. ''We should play along and escape when we have the chance..''
The creep wizard Rockiun seems oblivious to the hatred before him and points a dirty finger at the two. ''You two, get ready. They'll be here any moment. You don't want to be standing there when they arrive. Stand over there.'' Fuming and biting her tongue, Isabelle moves to the side where Rockiun indicated and pulled Klawz close to her.
 ''What are they even doing out here? Digging pits? For what?''
Klawz's voice is quiet. ''I don't know.. but whatever it is.. it can't be good.''

Thunder crashes, lightning flashes. In the clearing between the pits dark light swirls together and explodes into one another, a large dark portal forming in the air above. Tugging on her arm Klawz jolts.
''This is it, we can use this to get out..''
''Wait..'' Isabelle stops him.. concerned. The portal grows and lightning smashes into the portal, power crackling from it's shimmering mass and carrying through it. From the portal a figure drops. And then another. And another. Form after form after form drop from the portal and crash into the grass with a sickening crunch. Isabelle's heart breaks as body after body slams down, the bodies gathering on top of each other, person after person, form after form. The smell gets worse, not only coming from some of the open pits but now coming from the hundreds, possibly thousands of corpses before them in various forms of decay. Men, women, children, they're all there. Some are missing arms, others have runes carved into their pale peeling skin. There's only one unifying factor among them, they're dead. The wizard Rockiun seems un-phased, if anything he seems annoyed as if his boss had put a bunch of reports upon his desk.
''Grab a body and put them in the pit.'' He states with a neutral tone. ''What are you waiting for? Hurry up! Sooner you're done, the sooner we can go.''