Darkness quivered in the back of Draken’s mind, threatening to disperse his current spell, still held in his commanding thoughts. He could feel the attack coming before it hit and struggled to get enough mana harnessed in order cast the protective one that he now held in preparation.

“Just a little more”, he thought to himself. Then just as the darkness was about to overwhelm him, he case his spell, feeling forces gather around him and cling to his mind, shielding it. A sharp gong sounded as his head reeled from the mental force of the impact from the blast he had just barely been able to sheild himself from.

Rubbing his cambrinth ring, shaped as a scorpion, he began to draw mana from it’s reserves as as the diminishing resources around himself. The darkness, still oozing the in the back of his mind, grew as he added mana to it. Draken had been saving this spell for just such a battle and planned ot use it to it’s fullest deadly potential this time. He’d used it in experimentation before, against the likes of wood trolls and creepers, but never to a lethal extent.

“Now would be the time”, thought Draken. For his foe was indeed powerful, maybe more powerful than himself, and he hated anything that was more powerful and destroyed those that were with trickery and deceit. With this newly learned spell, he didn’t exactly need to be more powerful or more learned than his adversary. He just needed the right opening.

Draken saw such an opening as his opponent closed it’s eyes for just a second. Mana started flowing toward his foe and Draken knew what was coming.

“Just a little…”, he took a breath through clenched teeth, “… more”. Draken could feel the other almost at it’s fullest and held that darkness in the back of his mind in check, ready to be unleashed. The other reached his maximum harness and just before the cast, Draken released the darkness from his mind, quickly slipping it past his enemy’s defenses. His opponent gasped and his eyes flared open in shock. It’s arms straightened and went rigid, fingers flexed. Shadows began to form around Draken’s feet and flew to his opponent and down his throat. More shadows seemed to materialize from nowhere and stream into every opening of his foe’s body, filling him like a balloon.

Standing there bloated and so fat it couldn’t move or even fall over, the shadows stopped and it’s mouth closed and opened like a fish as it’s eyes bulged. It’s skin crawled with the shadows as they seemed to move just beneath. Tears streamed down it’s fattened face.

Draken strode over to the bloated live thing and flicked his nose. He laughed a little chuckle to himself, pleased at the outcome of his new spell. It had succeeded in a most pleasing manner, using the victims own mana stores against itself to complete the effects. Helpless now, Draken’s foe stood where he was, tears still streaming. Darken pulled skinning knife from his belt and waved in it from the the bloated thing. His enemy watched every move of the knife, eyes moving back and forth, in shameless fear and not a small hint of anger. Draken took the knife and pressed the top to the thing’s nose, wiggling it’s nose just a little. With a smile, Draken sliced the nose down the middle and the shadows started pouring out of the wound, ripping the flesh bigger and bigger. The shadows poured forth which such force, the creature was ripped apart in a matter of seconds, the shadows disappearing as quickly as they had come.

Draken chuckled to himself once more, wiped the blood spatters from his face and walk on down the trail.