The formation that morning was a mess. Amongst the regular legionnaires it seemed that there had been quite a bit of drinking as several young men and women struggled to stay on their feet and multiple sported black eyes and wounds from brawling. Amongst the rift teams there seemed to be less damage, though no less tiredness.

There was a noticeable gap beside Palinus and the team and as Tribune Asterius and Centurion Felusian stepped up to the front of the century and ordered them to attention it became clear that the gap wasn't going to be filled.

"The morning after…" Centurion Felusian smiled as he looked down at the tired, sore and still drunk soldiers of the century. "It is a right of passage of the Rift Trials. Your punishment for disobeying the order to not leave the camp will be administered directly. Hold up your arm if you left the camp without orders last night."

Seeing nearly all of the rift teams raising their arms, including Seline, Palinus gulped as he raised his own. The penalty for desertion was severe, though it seemed like there was something else at play.

Centurion Felusian took a note of all of the people with their arms up. He raised his eyebrow at Seline and paused for a pregnant moment as a few of the soldiers decided to own up to their misdeeds.

"You will all receive 5 lashes," he stated.

A drum beat started and Palinus was surprised when the centurion pulled out a vitis quite similar to his own, essentia cascading along its whiplike extension thicker than Palinus's and twitching as if it was sentient.

*Crack*

When the drum beat circled back the lash struck him on the back unexpectedly, the grunts around him indicated that he wasn't the only one surprised at the rapid administration. A few moments later the punishment ended.

"For those of you who have not yet realised. The Rift Trials have already begun." The centurion dropped a bomb that shocked no-one in the team. Glancing surreptitiously around the other rift teams their stoic faces revealed they weren't surprised either. "And the First Trial has already been completed."

That revelation did make Palinus think. He had expected epic battles against monsters and fearsome Sylvanians. His mind raced as he tried to understand what the trial could have been, and he supposed he might have been judged on the Arena battle. There had been other members of the century in other battles. Thinking about other people in the arena, Palinus realised that Aurelius hadn't shown up this morning. It was his team that was the gap in the century and he wondered what had happened that none of them showed up. He could imagine that the angry golden boy was a bit upset but the whole team's absence was a surprise..

"This morning we will now announce the designations of the Rift Teams for this century… Those who are still with us." The Centurion gestured at the gap in the ranks. "One of the teams has already stumbled on the first trial. The Rift Trials will be hard, and they will be dangerous, the team that has pulled out may well be the lucky ones…

Century! Close ranks!"

The order came and the soldiers in the century knew precisely what to do. Without thinking they raised their right arms and if there was a gap in front of their fist they followed it, swallowing the 5 spaces in the formation and wiping the space where Aurelius's team stood in a few shuffling steps.

It happened startlingly quickly, last night he had fought Aurelius as a rival and this morning the young man was gone. Palinus wasn't sure where, but suspected he would wind up in the legion somewhere, still angry with the world and everyone around him and never taking accountability for his own actions.

Saluting the century as they remained at attention the centurion stepped back to allow Tribune Asterius to step forward.

"Congratulations to those who remain who have passed their first Trial. It is with great pleasure that I share the results of our preliminary observations and the individual challenge. This is known as the First Trial. We will also be congratulating their leaders for their temporary promotions to the rank of Decurion for the duration of the Trials.

You each had an individualised 'trial,' a test to determine your character and your capacity. We have been assessing you since you left the training camp and the results for the first trial are assigned based on the rating of each of your abilities as a soldier, capacity and tendency to fill your role on top of your performance in the trial itself. For those of you disappointed with your results you should reflect on your role within your team and how you can strive together towards your goals. Today you will be formalising your designations, this is the moment where you declare your identity as a team: strong individuals who are stronger together.

By rift ranking our first team are the Punishing Flames, led by Vels. In their individual trials they performed admirably.

Vels: 5/5

Bakano: 4.5/5

Arruns: 2.5/5

Agrippa: 3/5

Marnus: 3/5

Team Score: 18/25"

The century murmured and thumped their chest in approval. With a flare for the dramatic Tribune Asterius didn't announce Palinus's team next, despite them being technically rated next and instead jumped to the third team. Who had called themselves the Golden Wolves and they managed a score of 12/25.

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"Our second ranked team is The Cinderborn led by Seline. Their results are as follows:

Seline: 5/5

Palinus: 3.5/5

Rufian: 3/5

Vesuvia: 3/5

Bruchts: 5/5

Team score: 19.5 putting The Cinderborn in the lead by a small margin. This score is only the first of several to come. Do not rest on your laurels.

As I mentioned when we set out. We will be meeting up with several other centuries to form a legion, these centuries will also be competing in the rift trials. The current standings for this century are:

The Cinderborn: 3rd

Punishing Flames: 4th

Golden Wolves: 8th

The next trial will be conducted in the field, and we will be splitting you up. Your objective is to secure a village along the border. Your job will be to stabilise the nexus and to secure the area from overrun rifts and encroachment by both Sylvanian and Stoneman nexuses. Each team will be assigned an officer to supervise and two decios as support, but the purpose of the trial is to assess your abilities in the field. This includes your decision making."

Buoyed by the announcement of their success Palinus barely paid attention to what Asturion was saying, it was mostly about logistics and supply. He assumed Seline would be able to manage that.

That very morning they found themselves marching away from Tremona with Seline in charge of the group and Centurion Felusian watching over her. She proved herself easily able to manage the logistics and details of running the team, even with the team expanded to include two extra decios of legionnaires. Palinus found it weird to think that they were all there to support their little team and that Seline was in charge of the wellbeing of a group of nearly 25 people as they marched towards the border.

The marching itself was boring. The terrain was countryside and farmland interspersed with plains and hills at first, but as they finished their second week of marching they started to get into some truly different terrain. The perfectly paved stone road they followed curved up through mountain passes and the forests overhung the road.

When they had left, taking twenty extra men with them for the purpose of simply checking out some village in the forests had seemed like overkill. But once they started to feel the cold of the northern climate and the higher altitudes the confidence was starting to wane, especially as they listened to the wolves at night bundled up in the thick cloaks Seline had requisitioned for them.

"It's colder than a witch's tit!" Rolmnus cursed as he stood on watch with Palinus.

They knew Rolmnus from the Inter Cohort Battle where he had led the group that had shielded them in their final assault on the hill fort. He had become a friend of Palinus's as they had marched together and it was a treat to stand watch with him.

"Have you ever felt a witch's tit?" Palinus joked.

"Of course!" Rolmnus quipped, "Your mother quite enjoyed-"

He liked Rolmnus and had to pay credit to the jab. If Palinus was being honest the smoke whip that burnt off his eyebrows in response was unfair, but Palinus still felt touchy about jokes at his mothers expense.

"Bahaha," despite having to pat out his eyebrows, his friend laughed. "Crossed the line… noted. Do you know how far out we are?"

"We are getting close. Ravensdam is supposed to be just up the valley, but Seline is being cautious." Palinus sighed, the practicalities of the adventure were more than outweighing the excitement at this point. "Vesuvia is saying that the flows of essentia are still coming, but they are chaotic and it seems likely that the village is occupied by a hostile force."

"Does she know what by?" Romnus asked.

"She is speculating either an overrun rift, monsters or bandits, but she doesn't know. Something about the essentia being strongly mixed. We will find out more tomorrow, the plan is to approach cautiously and see. If the nexus is occupied the first sign is that we will be offered a rift to challenge control… if there is an enemy holding the village and they decide to fight back rather than run, then I suppose we find out who they are in the rift pretty quickly."

The marching order for the little group felt odd to Palinus, during the march it had bothered him but now there was a threat and something to look out for he really chafed at where he stood in the middle of the ranks. It didn't feel right that he couldn't see what was going on around them and he was annoyed that he had to look around heads to catch glimpses of the forest around them. Rufain marching next to him had been frustrated as well, when they had complained to Seline, she simply looked at them like they were idiots as she explained that they needed to be protected as the assigned Rift Team, they had a job to do and the Legionaries had a job to protect them while they did it.

"Damn idiots in my way if we needed to brawl." Rufian's grumbled as they marched towards Ravensdam. It was interesting that he was thinking something similar, but for a different reason.

The anxiety of the group was palpable. They hadn't seen any people passing them either direction on the road since they passed the last town, which further fueled their anxiety and likely confirmed Vesuvia's theory that something bad was happening in the village.

Spectacular views of the scenery around them didn't match their dark concerns, the valley they entered that morning was gorgeous, a pristine river meandered through a birch forest overlooked by a spectacularly sharp peak that still had a snow cap despite the dwindling summer months. Seline had been telling them all about the village that sat below the mountain, they knew from the maps they had copied that it was deep in the valley and how important it was as a stopping point for the road that led around the mountains north and west.

They had stepped out of a particularly dense section of forest that climbed up into the valley slightly and the terrain had finally opened up in front of them to give a view through to the river as it wound through lush grassland.

"Shoo, shoo!" Vesuvia was yelling at the raven again. The whole morning it had been flying circles around them. She muttered along with the soldiers that it was a bad omen.

"Halt!"

With the unexpected order to stop the bad feeling Palinus had deepened. They were too far out of the village for it to be anything but bad news.

"Rift team!" The yell made his heart race, and he felt a tingle of energy racing down his spine..

A rift stood directly ahead of them in the middle of the road, its prismatic light swirling and its tendrils swaying as if there was a breeze, beckoning them forward. It was time for them to delve again, this time as The Cinderborn.

As the soldiers parted in front of them with their fists over their chests in salute he strode proudly side by side with his team. There was an energy they shared, an excitement, and he was eager to join them. Ready to risk his life to do it.

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