Rezmir hated the army. His back ached, his legs felt like jelly, and he was stuck on the night shift. Those were the three thoughts occupying his mind; if there were more, he’d be complaining about those too. He should be sitting in a lounge back at his father’s estate, but because he’d been born Adroit, he was expected to lead, and help those less fortunate.

Rezmir shuddered at the prospect.

He didn’t understand how that was his problem. His father would wax poetic about the responsibilities those with power should shoulder for those without; he just didn’t care. He had far greater matters to think about.

Wine. Women. Where to eat next.

His life had been good, until he manifested. And then his father had shipped him off to the Academy, forever disrupting what had been a perfect life in his estimation. He was now stationed as a sentry at Omphalos, waiting for researchers to putter around at the Severance. He was told they were conducting research into the surging world aura there, but he couldn’t be bothered with the details.

Yawning, Rezmir made his way outside to perform a quick sweep of the grounds, more to keep him awake rather than ensuring no one was lurking about. Reaching out to the aura around him, Rezmir drew it into his body, converting it to fire essence as he did so. After a moment of thought, he directed the essence into the channels seared into his legs, allowing it to build into a controlled, if not a bit wobbly, pattern. When done properly, this pattern would expel the essence from his body in a way that would allow him a controlled flight.

Experts could do this without much thought, and they would perform it cleaner and faster than Rezmir could.

About a minute later, Rezmir could feel the essence pushing out from his feet and legs, slowly lifting him up. Once he was a few feet off of the ground, he took stock of his patrol route, then with a brief exhale, rocketed into the surrounding forest. About halfway through his round, he felt the world aura in his vicinity leech away, causing his grasp on the spell to wane.

Slowing to a halt, he cast his perception out and around him, looking for anything suspicious. While this was most likely another of the surges the researchers were here for, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility of someone attacking them.

Sweeping his perception through the immediate area and not sensing anything further, he set off once more; hoping to put the event behind him and get back to his watch post. Not three breaths later he felt the world aura drain again, causing him to slam back into the ground as his technique completely failed this time.

This time, the magic had almost felt as if it had been ripped from his hands. The aura being drawn to another place faster than it could fill the void that it had left behind.

Rezmir’s training kicked immediate and before he knew it, he was on his feet with his back to a tree. Gaze shifting from shadow to shadow, he blanketed the area around him with his perception. A full ten minutes passed before he allowed himself to step away from the tree.

Feeling as if he was being watched, but seeing nothing, and sensing nothing in his perception was telling him otherwise. In either case, the feeling of unease was unnerving.

Deciding he needed to report back, he immediately set off as fast as he could. Drawing on his core this time, fire madra spread from his feet up to his waist, covering Rezmir in a half suit of fire. Being a Knight, he knew he could last on his core for an hour without running dry of madra. For the third time, he attempted to make his way back to the outpost, his only intent this time being to get back to the others and report in.

The feeling of the night had completely changed by now, his unease slowly turning into a spike of white hot fear, stabbing itself into the center of his chest. He had been weaving in and out of the forest for five minutes now, taking any shortcut he could to get back to his team. With each foot that he covered, the fear crept another inch outwards from his chest, creeping into his arms and legs like snakes of ice.

Almost back to the safety of the building, Rezmir felt his blood chill as once again, his magic failed him.

That shouldn't be possible, I'm pulling directly from my core! Rezmir cried out to himself as he staggered to the ground once more. It was undeniable though, he felt as the world around him surged with power, pulling on his core and from all living things in his surrounding area, draining it of life and madra both. The feeling was surreal as his core was bled dry and he was left like a shriveled husk on the ground.

All of the drained power pooled together a few feet from Rezmir, shimmering as it seemed to form into a red mass of energy. Another surge rolled through the area surrounding him once more, and the red mass of power seemed to solidify. Nothing happened for a few moments, allowing Rezmir to catch his breath and force himself to his feet.

Studying the red mass, Rezmir slowly made his way around it, looking to gather as much information as he could before heading back to the research team. He had just decided he had seen all that needed to be seen when the mass appeared to shudder.

Rezmir caught a quick flash of warning before the mass shattered as a set of claws ripped out from inside, appearing to claw out of the mass like an oversized chick getting out of it's egg. Together, the claws ripped at the egg like mass, forcing it open. Rezmir’s breath left him as a horrifying pair of glowing black eyes settled on him from inside the egg. Those eyes seemed to hold him in place, locking his entire body up as they drilled into his soul. He felt as if his judge, jury, and executioner was ripping through the fabric of the world just to pay him a visit.

Ripping his gaze away, Rezmir shredded the earth apart as his feet carried him through the night, trying to reach the safety of the others. Behind him, a guttural shriek pierced the air like a tea kettle hot off the stove. That scream tore at his ears and paralyzed him, stopping him feet away from the entrance to the building. Fighting with all his might, feeling as the sweat formed on his brow and dripped down his face, Rezmir pushed for another step. His foot landed, bringing him one step closer to salvation. A ripping sound followed up the scream, causing goosebumps to race across Rezmir’s body.

A panic unlike anything he had felt gripped his body, urging another step out of him. The paralysis was slowly waning and Rezmir could feel a thread of hope inside of him as another step brought him closer to the doors. That hope was dashed the next instant when he felt thunderous crashing from the forest behind him, racing towards his destination. For the first time in his life, Rezmir seriously wondered what was going to happen to him.

Even after being sentenced to a life at the Academy by his father, he knew his life shouldn’t be this dire. Reaching knight had been a stretch for him, and he wouldn’t be entrusted with many important tasks because of this. This wasn’t the case for most knights, but for him and his less than average talent, reaching knight at all had been a miracle. Especially considering his weak work ethic. The only reason he had finally breached that barrier was due to an expensive elixir his father had gifted him.

Rezmir’s body was held in an icy grip unlike anything he had felt before. No matter how hard he pushed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get through that paralysis fast enough. The monster behind him was gaining ground, and quickly. Opening his mouth to scream in a last-ditch panic, he felt as that withered claw wrapped around his face. Rezmir’s muffled screams emitted from behind that claw, his body flopping around like a fish out of water, the paralysis broken by the hand.

Nothing could break that grasp as the monster slowly drug him away from the doors; the shadows swallowing the two as they retreated into the forest around them.