Andraste's Chevalier

Chapter 8- Thedas

"The first patrol team arrived in hours. Magister Sunwaker, the two abducted children, and I were recovered from the battle site to be treated for injuries. Two more patrol teams arrived soon after, in response to my emergency request. Sergeant Bluebeard led them down the tunnels to search for Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. They were unfortunately rebuffed due to a trogg outbreak. After several hours, all retrieval efforts were ceased and all patrol teams were recalled for an emergency deployment to the Kingdom of Lordearon. Rumors are that it is due to some type of plague outbreak near Stratholme.

A ceremony will be held to award Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood posthumously the Medal of Tyr for his bravery. His personal effects were gathered, secured, and packaged. I will be delivering the package to Northshire after the ceremony's conclusion. They will be surrendered to his last-known relative, Tiana Riverwood. She will also receive a writ of pension from the treasury as financial compensation and an invitation to the official inscription of his name on the wall of heroes in Stormwind.

Details from the morning's route reconnaissance are omitted as Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood had the possession of the records at the moment of his disappearance. This concludes the day's report.

- From Patrol Report. Year 3000, 5th day of BloomingTide. Captain Elric Falmore

I was half-expecting that the mirror was nothing more than just that. However, there was no physical recoil. No shards of glass ripping through my skin.

Instead, I was in something reminiscent of water, the substance was cool and I could almost swim through it. Then there was a flash of light. My body felt like it was being stretched and then pulled in multiple directions. Next thing I knew, I was floating. There was this blue fog everywhere. Below, I could see trees, except they weren't. The branches were too wide, the color was a dull metallic gray, and they sat atop a bed of stone. Beside them were rows and rows of mirrors, just like the one I went through.

Then suddenly I felt myself being jerked up. I started to move, faster and faster until everything became a blur.

I was moving so fast I couldn't think straight. I could feel the muffins coming back up from my stomach. Then the blur materialized into a wall and I flew out onto some stony surface. I tumbled down what felt like a set of stairs. Finally, there was a loud boom like a cannon firing followed by the crash of glass shattering.

"We have successfully passed through the portal. Congratulations Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. We have eluded the aberrations."

"Ho-," I started, then stopped as the world seemed to keep spinning. I turned to the side, too disoriented to get up, and puked.

"Are you stable Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood? My sensors indicate you are under severe physical duress."

I emptied out the last contents of my stomach, then rolled away. My view continued to spin.

"Just-Just give me a moment," I uttered.

"As you wish."

I always wondered why people rarely ever used portals. The concept just seemed so handy. I asked Alamere once, and he said unless he needed to be somewhere, he always preferred to travel by land or by bird. Now I understood why. After several heartbeats I was finally able to get up without the world spinning sideways.

There were no screaming troggs. The Lorekeeper was right. We were safe. At least for now. But where were we? It was a room, that much I was able to figure out. I was laying on top of stone. Was this another area in the caverns? That meant I'd still have to be weary of troggs. Then out of the corner of my eyes I could see beams of... light, was that sunlight? And that noise. It sounded like... trees rustling?