The return was disorientating, the sudden movement, the complete shift was quite strange to me and the townsfolk who had never encountered such sophisticated magic, we would have never traveled by portal before. So that caused quite a few of us to bend over and throw up the heap of scraps they were given for food.

After a few seconds of pain my head began to clear. I looked around, at our so called "new home", from this point of view it wasn't a whole lot to look at. we were on top on a hill, looking over an encampment. The army that was stationed there seemed haphazard and disorganized, nothing like the ordered lines and camps of the Empire when they performed their yearly tour around the border, showing us border folk the true power of the Empire.

They were very impressive it must be said. Earth Mages, Summoners and all manners of powers help set up an incredibly defense position in less than a few hours. It was a great holiday for us. We got to come out as a town and watch the true might of the Empire be the height of efficiency, of course they would tear down all the encampment they would make, just so it couldn't be used against our town or the Empire itself, their more destructive mages at work being just as inspirational in their power and force.

Looking down at this camp, filled with women and children, who looked far worse for wear. Barely outfitted troops walked around like kings. It looked a horrid place. The man that had brought us to the awakening podium breathing in a breath of fresh air, like it was a great drug, he seemed to relax, with that relaxation came a true sense of his power. He had been tightly coiled before in the Empire lands. Now though he let loose, revealing his full power of a high tier being.

"Welcome to Camp Hrack, one of many camps that belong to the great Warlords, rejoice, we are free"

With that inspirational message he flew off towards the largest tent in the Camp, a very fancy affair, a complete mishmash to the surrounding image.

"Come now, you are part of the Hordes now, newly awakened combatants follow me to be tested, the others follow Captain Nery over there who will bring you to your new homes"

With a sense of numbness we began to follow his orders, we fell into a haphazard line following him away from the main group. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to see those folks for a long time, for some that gave me immeasurable joy, for others great sadness.

Walking down the hill, we started to make our way towards the center of the camp, slowly getting closer to the giant tent looking down on the rest of the camp, even from its position in the bottom of the valley.

This wasn't a place of great prosperity, I could make out that much already, the equipment was outdated and rusty.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That soon became clear that was just for the fringe fighters, the gear grew better quite dramatically as we began to get closer to the tent, I hadn't seen such equipment on even the Empires High Warriors akin to the ones we were seeing just outside the Main tent. The whole thing was quite intimidating and hammered home the fact that escape by this point was certainly impossible. The silence of our death march was broken by our leader.

"You will now be tested and placed into the groups that best match your abilities, Good luck"

He went into the tent, it took a few minutes for him to come back out, leaving us to chat among ourselves. I was in no mood for talking, unfortunately I wasn't given a choice.

"How strong are you Byren, if we can get into the same troop then it will be far easier to plan our revenge."

His confident look spoke volumes that he didn't really think that we were in the same magic class.

"I am pretty sure I have potential for Tier 6"

I decided to be honest as for the moment he was probably one of my only reliable allies. His look made me feel a little self conscious. He didn't believe me.

"Okay, that would be great, I think I have similar potential from my visions, so if we can get into the primary encampments then that would be for the best"

I could only agree, but we were broken from any more talk, by two people emerging from the tent along with our original guide. They were wearing fancy robes, with a weird looking symbol on their chests.

"Primes, these are the new recruits from a small little village on the borders of the Empire."

These new guys didn't think much of us that much was obvious, the look of disdain on their face spoke volumes about their temperament. I wouldn't say any of them are even Heri material, never mind Huti. I don't think any of them have potential. For anything further."

The guide just nodded along as the two assholes began to look around us from all angles. It was quite annoying, I felt like a cattle ready for the sale. It was disconcerting. These people were obviously important. The guard was agreeing with everything they said about the low quality of their new stock.

"Okay begin the testing, I want to see what these lowlanders are all about"

Rolling out another enchanted Vald stone, this was something I had always dreamed about, gaining glory in a single step from my immense potential. I just didn't think it would be under these circumstances.

We slowly began to line up, Ben was the most motivated for whatever reason, he pushed himself in the front of the line, I was more than happy with my place around the middle.

The crystal slowly began to rise in colour, as little particles in magic demonstrated him power potential. Of course you could go past your potential, it was just incredibly difficult, and generally never more than a tier or 2.The light reached a crescendo as a purple glow appeared around him. He had the potential for Tier 6, that had been proven. I was worried what I was going to get.