Steps echoed in the night. Tight, dark alleys lay in a confusing network before Kael and Martin. Ducking under too low overhangs and skitting to a halt before turning at sharp corners, they were running through the night. The moon, only a suggestion behind the heavy cloud cover, gave them barely enough light to avoid crashing into walls. The run was short, too short, thought Kael. Just moments before they were having fun, not a worry in the world, and now they were running towards probable mortal danger… Why?! This was not him! He should be running away from the danger, not towards it. There was nothing he could do anyway, right? Andrea was strong and trained, possibly armed too, and Martin could use magic, heal! But he had just begun his journey as a mage. So WHY?! Why did this feel terrifying, desperate, idiotic, and right at the same time?

Doubts fought against his will to help his friends, and the closer they came to their destination, the more his fears began to win. Because it’s for your friends, of course, he answered the question himself even as they rounded another corner, dashing headfirst into a wall of damp air and reduced vision. They had reached their goal. There was Andrea, legs spread and arms extended forward, aiming her pistol at the outline of a hunched form some meters down the alley. Everything was just shapes and tinted in shades of grey. Fog hung thick in the air, diffusing what little light reached the alley even more and making it impossible to tell what she was aiming at. Wait, fog? Wha. Kael felt his thoughts go sluggish for a second, struggling to think. Then he noticed Martin. His friend was already a few steps ahead, crouching down next to a big bag on the ground. What was he doing there? Shouldn't he be looking for the person that had been screaming? Maybe it was the alcohol, but Kael had a hard time getting his brain to work, feeling perplexed by his friend's bizarre actions. At least he wasn’t feeling as scared anymore. Wh…? Then he saw Martin’s hands begin to glow green. Why was he healing a bag? Could he mend stuff too? Neat! Then the light illuminated his surroundings, shedding light on what Kael had still thought of as a bag. Blood. So much blood. How could there be so much blood? It’s as if…

Then a flash of white turned the night into day for a split second. Then another, and another, as Kael watched Andrea fire her weapon at the figure, now running towards them. His scrambled mind had trouble keeping up with what was happening, and only when Andrea had fired her fifth? sixth? shot, did he notice that he was seeing the light, but there was no sound. Shouldn’t guns make sounds? The creature, a lanky humanoid with too-long arms, was almost upon Andrea at this point. There was something he was supposed to do right? What though? Reduced to a spectator, he watched as the creature swiped its long clawlike hands at Andrea, only to see her drop low and roll to the side. At the same time, Martin had stopped his magic and was now running towards him, moving his mouth as if he was shouting, but without making any sounds. There were still voices somewhere in the back of his mind, trying to remind him of something, but they seemed unimportant right now. Then Martin reached him. Kael soon felt a hand on his shoulder, and after a flash of green, mana was coursing through his body. It drove through him like lightning, invigorating anything it touched. Then it reached his head, and the wool that had made thinking so damn hard was pulled away.

“FUCK! Kael! Use your mana! Circulate it thr ‘BANG!’ r body! God DAMN ‘BANG!’ FUCK!” Sound came back too, crashing into his mind like a tsunami into a city. Over the constant rushing of his blood in his ears, he heard gunshots and his friend screaming at him to do something with his mana. Circulate it, right! Pulling on his source, he dragged his own mana through his body, similar to what Martin had done before. By the time he had control over it, Martin was already on the move again. Andrea was limping slightly as she franticly reloaded her gun, always keeping her eyes on the strange creature attacking them. His head clear again, he, too, ran forward. This was not something Andrea could handle.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him that this foe was decidedly magical in nature, and going by the efficiency of Andreas shooting, impervious to normal attacks. Martin, a meter before him, called out a short chant as he ran, gathering mana fast. The thing rushed forward again, making Andrea drop her magazine as she rolled out of the way desperately. The rushed maneuver caused her injured leg undue strain, making it give in and collapse. That saved her life as its follow-up attack missed her head by a few centimeters. Doubling his efforts, Kael put his all into the sprint, reaching Andrea and the enemy before it could attack again. Martin had stopped a few meters back, still gathering energy. Then he was there.

Using all of his momentum, he threw himself into a punch.