Kendra

I will be glad when all this is over.
Aside from the obvious benefits of repelling an invading force of demons, when peace finally descends on Magincia, it will no longer be necessary to entrust my fate to one of these accused vessels.
The crew are taking some pleasure in my discomfort, although thankfully they've grown bored of making jokes about me needing “sea legs” instead of “tree legs.”
It is a blessing that the fate of the land isn't solely entrusted to idiots such as them.
The fires that threaten to consume the city make the horizon glow an angry red, even though the island itself is still out of sight.
There are several others on this ship; warriors and mages, mostly.
No one smiles. Many even avoid eye contact with their fellow travellers, knowing that they'll only see the weariness they feel mirrored in their eyes. Some of them speak amongst themselves, in hushed tones, though most remain silent, anticipating what awaits them when we reach the city.
Speaking of which, I have to prepare.

Kendra swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped off the ferry, ignoring the offered hands from the attending guards. It wasn't as if she were some frail maiden, or old crone, who needed their help. More likely, they were looking for a smile from the elven female, to brighten a doubtlessly dismal day.
As an afterthought, she brought a smile to her lips and bowed her head slightly, hopefully conveying enough sincerity in the gesture to, at least, not make them feel any worse.
Not for the first time, she pondered what might have happened, had she attempted to close the moongate. There was a chance that she could have prevented all of this, or even if she had failed, there were limited ways that the situation could be any worse than it had become.
Putting aside those thoughts, she followed the others that had been on the ship with her, to the stairs that lead to the city.
On reaching the top of the steps she, and several others, stopped in their tracks. Scarcely a building in the city stood unschathed, the loose remnants of the buildings littering the streets, and thick plumes of smoke from several fires rose into the air.
The invaders were winning. Even if they retreated now, it seemed unlikely that the city would be able to recover any time soon. Even those that survived the invasion would have nothing but ash and rubble to return to. Perhaps those that died were the lucky ones.
Kendra shook her head, quickly, trying to remove such thoughts from her mind. Regardless of any of that, his grace had offered aid to Magincia, and she would do all she could to deserve the trust he had placed in her, when he had granted her citizenship.
A slightly pained look crossed her face, as she reminded herself that he would never recognise her as more than a citizen. By extension, he wouldn't think any less of her, if she found a corner to hide in until the fighting was over, but she would know that she had betrayed his trust, if only in a relatively minor way.
Steeling herself, she quickened her pace into the city itself. If she didn't try, then she'd never know what she could accomplish. Besides, she didn't want to be just a citizen, or a just a little sister, or just a student of magic.
“Idiot!” she muttered to herself, and slipped through a gap in the barricade that blocked the road.

The rift is heavily guarded. That is, if you can call a swarm of demonkind stomping around in the vicinity guarding. I suppose the point is irrelevant, since the result is the same, and has me procrastinating by pondering how to define their behaviour, as opposed to doing what I came here to do.
Getting past the demons, strangely, will be the easiest part. Though their powers are many, avoiding attracting their attention should be as easy as maintaining a spell of invisibility.
As the humans of this land say, “out of sight, out of mind.”
That doesn't do much to make me feel any more confident about going in there.
In fact, I'm terrified.

Kendra approached the rift cautiously, stepping carefully to avoid making too much noise, not to mention soiling her boots with something unspeakable.
Thankfully, the demons hadn't noticed her. Although that fact alone had lead to a number of near misses, with a couple of imps flying by where she was, and a huge demon that planted its giant foot right next to the bush she had been hiding behind.
She allowed herself a grim smile.
Somehow, it was as if she had emerged from the other side fear, into a strange form of clarity. If anything went wrong, there would be nowhere to run. The path out of danger was as dangerous as any other path she could take.
Carefully, she reached into her robe, and took the small black stone she had concealed there in her hand. She would never hear the end of it, if anyone found that she had brought Blackrock to the rift, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was important, and she wasn't fond of the idea of taking a second trip through the jungle, if it turned out that she needed it.
Her brow creased in confusion, and she quickly let go of it, reaching for her journal.

The sample of Blackrock I have brought with me seems to be reacting to something.
Although it retains its shape, as like a solid substance, my fingers sink into its surface as I grip it, as though it were liquid.
I was able to accomplish something similar during my research, which leads me to believe that there is a form of magical field emanating within the vicinity of the rift. My suspicions are that it is either the rift itself (or something beyond), or the moonstone of the gate.
I will investigate further.

Anticipating that she would need to write more notes on her actions, she left the book, quill and ink at the foot of one of the circle of stones.
While watching the rift carefully, she reached into her robe, and retrieved a pair of small gems. Keeping hold of one of them, she took the other in her right hand, and brought her arm back to throw it. She was terrible at such things, but ir wasn't worth taking unnecessary risks, approaching the rift, just to get a communications crystal into it.
With a wince of anticipation, the threw the gem, watching it carefully as it arced towards the rift, and disappeared.
“That's a good start,” she said softly to herself, bringing the other gem up to her ear, hoping to hear something from the other side of the rift. Assuming that there was another side, of course.
After a few minutes of listening to the silence from the gem, she reached for her journal, pulling a face in irritation.

Attempting to use a communications crystal to discover more about what may lay on the other side of the rift has been inconclusive.
Either there is nothing to be heard on the other side, or the rift itself has somehow severed the link between the crystals.
I had been hoping that they would confirm the presence of something on the other side.
I will have to experiment further.

She closed the book, and pushed it aside again, laying the quill and ink pot on top of it, along with the communication crystal.
The presence of the demons was now a problem, since any form of divination spell she attempted would likely reveal her, with predictable consequences.
There were protection spells she could use, but they would require casting, which would yield the same results as a divination spell.
“Great,” she muttered, “perhaps you should have thought of that, before you waded into the middle of the demons' beachhead.”
Reaching into her robe, she took hold of the piece of Blackrock, and took it out carefully.
She could use the Blackrock to determine the source of the magical field that it was reacting to. The chances of there being a magical field here that had no connection to the rift were slimmer than the field being related to the rift. So, if she could locate the source of the field, then perhaps closing the rift wouldn't be so hard.
Hardly a guarantee, but a slim chance was better than none at all.
Holding the rock out in front of her, at arms length, she crept towards the rift, trying to gauge the strength of the reaction by testing how solid the rock seemed.
As she past through the ring of stones, a bolt of lightning came from nowhere, striking her outstretched arm, throwing her backwards a few feet, and forcing her to drop the Blackrock. She hit the ground, holding her burned arm to her chest, protectively.
Her cry of pain was short-lived, as it was quickly drowned out by a fearsome roar. The invisibility spell that had been protecting her was broken, probably by the lightning, and her cry of pain had drawn the attentions of the nearby demons.
Scrambling to her knees, she looked around in a panic. There was no way she could make it out of the jungle, past all of the demons, even if she ran to the nearby coast, and threw herself over the shallow cliff.
With grim resolution, she reached for her spellbook, and looked for the nearest demon.

__________________
You unearth a large piece of blackrock!
You carefully place it in your backpack.
You see: a blackrock elemental
You are dead.