The world came to a standstill. No. Not still. There was some movement; I could see the crystalline droplets of the water dripping from the fur of the approaching group of Ratmen catch the light emanating from the odd stones on the ceiling. A booming voice echoes in my head and almost sends me careening to the ground.

“Human. What arrogance doth drive you to deign to call upon me?”

I try to speak but am silenced by a wave of pain wracking through my brain.

“It is interesting that Your voice was able to reach me. What power you must have...”

The voice drifts to my left, and then to in front of me, and then to my right.

“You are not one of my Chosen, are you? No...no you belong to another. One of the crafty ones.” The voice traveled around me as if a curious child were circling me. “Ah, you’re with a Chosen of Lugh’s, eh? This situation doesn’t look too good for either of you. So, arrogant mortal, you want some of my power to get out of this? Is that why you’ve called upon me?”

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I nod. It’s the only response I could give. Simply opening my mouth I could feel my tongue swell, almost to the point of bursting as surge after surge of energy flows through me.

“I see, I see, and what have you to offer in return, mortal?”

Offer? I didn’t even think about that.

“Nothing? Then I’ll take something off of you.”

Anything. Anything, just as long as we can make it out of here.

“Is that so?” The booming voice says, “Then, I’ll lend you some of my power for one minute in exchange for...”

Pressure begins to build over my left eye, and slowly sink into my skull as if someone was pushing a heated rod into my eye. A slow, roiling pain pierces the front of my face like a wedge through a log as. I scream a soundless scream as the vision of my left eye blackens, and the feeling of my left eye bubbling away seals all of my senses.

“I will take this. I will temporarily grant you the ability to get out of this if you can control it. Good luck, mortal.”

A crack of thunder echoes overhead, and a surge of power flows into me as if a thousand, a million volts of electricity poured into me through the crown of my head. Is this mana? it’s never-ending. This mana tends to pull towards my heart. If I let it, my heart would explode. I bend down and grope around the ground for the staff that the Ratman had knocked away. The world returns to its normal pace as my fingers brush against it. The mana inside of me feels as if it were fit to burst. I point the staff at the group of Ratmen rushing me after I steady myself.

Before the mana overwhelms me, I let it loose at the clustered Ratmen who had emerged from the canals and were rushing toward me. The booming seemed to have drawn the attention of the ones that had been heading to flank Shawn; as they turn their attention back to me. One minute. I had one minute to end this.