A.N.: This is my first foray into the rich fantasy world known as Rift. Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Flames will be used to cook my Ramen.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rift. All new characters, however, are mine.

Story start.

Pain.

The first thing I felt was the pain; an excruciating agony that made me feel like my skin was being melted from the inside out.

I hear a strangled scream. I realize that it must be mine, because soon after, my throat started to feel raw. I vaguely hear somebody shouting nearby. It takes me a bit to understand it, but I was hearing a woman shouting, "Get some healing potions!" Soon after, I feel a cup being pressed against my lips. I part them, and feel them cracking. The liquid tasted like a strange mix between some kind of vegetable, and cinnamon candy. I ignored the taste because suddenly I feel what can only be described as my body being soothed. I thank my patron goddess, Tavril, for the relief I'm feeling.

Suddenly, the potion is taken away from me, making me whimper and attempt to lean forward. "Easy there, little one!" I hear a lilting voice laugh. "You're gonna be sick if you keep drinking like that!" I was only able to shoot a weak scowl at the person.

I'm suddenly overwhelmed by memories flooding my mind. In all of them, I see a little girl with pale skin and light, silvery-blue hair. In one scene, she is sleeping, being cuddled in the arms of a taller woman with ghostly white skin and pale lavender hair. In another, she is wrestling in an open meadow with a young boy that had black hair and dark purple skin. The last scene shows the girl in some kind of kitchen, sitting on a tall chair and chattering with a woman with dark blue hair and light purple skin.

I see all of these memories with a sense of detachment, yet I feel strangely drawn to the young girl, almost as if I should know who she is. I also feel an odd warmth in my chest while looking at the other people.

I'm pulled from my reveries by a gruff voice asking, "How is she?"

I hear the lilting voice respond again. "She's doing fine for now. We will need to keep her here overnight, for observation. Once she's recovered, I'll escort her to the training grounds. We need to see what kind of skills she has. Her role will depend on the souls that her body absorbed while in limbo." I'm confused at this statement. Souls? Limbo? I miss the next few words of the exchange while thinking about what that might mean.

"Good job, Syphos." I hear the gravelly voice again. "I look forward to receiving your report."

There was a slight rustling, and the woman spoke up. "I'll get some more potions, just in case."

I feel a gauntleted hand rub my forehead. "I'll stay here. My wife seems to have taken an interest with this little one. Said she wanted me to show her around."

"Old Kel's got ya on a short leash, don't she?" The rough voice was filled with mirth.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't forget, she could zap you with a word, if I asked. It wouldn't kill you, but it would hurt like all hell." The lilting voice took on a teasing tone.

"How a mage fell in love with you before killing you, I'll never understand…" The rough voice muttered. "Annoying as hell, you are. Buggery bastard…" With that, the owner of the gruff voice left the room, his armor making a metallic tinkling.

I managed a smile through my delirium. These people seemed like they would be fun to hang out with.

The last thing I remember before I fell back asleep was somebody taking my hand and giving a slight squeeze. That night, my dreams were filled with a pleasant, warm happiness, like I had finally come home.

Over the next few days, I was slowly regaining my strength. I found out that the lilting voice from when I first woke up belonged to a fellow High Elf named Syphos. The female voice belonged to his twin sister, Lylli. The person with the harsh, gravelly voice was a Dwarf named Sion that was displaced when Hammerknell Fortress was overrun by the Endless Court cultists.

Syphos was a strong Warrior that enjoyed using massive swords that took two hands just to lift. He was fond of saying that if the slice from the sword didn't kill, the blunt-force trauma would.

Lylli was a skinny Rogue girl that used daggers to strike from the shadows, like an assassin would. I still had yet to hear her make a sound when walking.

Sion was a Cleric that performed most of the healing on me. He was known to carry a bludgeoning Hammer that looked like it had plants growing out of it. I never quite understood that, but I was told that the weapon is corrupted with energy from the Plane of Life, whatever that is.

It was these three people that kept me happy and facilitated my recovery.

A.N.: Well, there's my first chappy. Hope you like.