As we were contemplating the sensations we received from the centaur in our claws, the howling of wolves added to the pandemonium of the region. The previously calm and quiet night was now anything but, especially as the orcs had begun their attack earlier, that much had been obvious thanks to blazing explosions. Some bolts of flame had even tried to penetrate the mist but failed to do so, their heat quickly fading in the cool, clammy fog.

With the wolves howling in the background, we took a brief moment off our test-subject, turning to look around, noticing a couple glowing shapes approaching.

“We have puppies incoming.” we snarled, warning the others of the attackers, before focusing back on the centaur, taking the howls she had heard and using them to whip up the remains of her mind, driving her into a gibbering frenzy. On a whim, we let the vines we had used to restrain her grow short, yet sharp, thorns letting them dig into her flesh. The more she struggled, the more pain she was in and the more pain she was in, the more she struggled. It would work, allowing us to rip some more mental activity from her, before blood-loss and exhaustion would claim their toll.

Or would they? A thought bubbled up, somewhere in our combined minds, a curious, yet cruel, idea. We were perfectly capable of healing, at least to a degree, so why not force her body to remain in working condition, just as we had already been trying with her mind and soul? We even had some of the right runes carved into the centaurs flesh, we just needed to change some of them and their focus a little.

Curious what would happen, we started carving again, quickly changing what needed to be changed before letting power flow into the centaur, just enough to sustain her without easing the pain, if anything the healing would have increased the pain, giving her mind the resources to remain active.

By now, what activity we could feel hinted at pure despair, no hope for rescue or salvation, merely a wish for a quick, final death.

For a moment, noise behind us caught our attention, giving our test-subject a moment of rest as we focused back on our friends. The puppies we had noticed earlier had caught up with us, fighting against them in an attempt to dislodge us, maybe to force us into the valley.

Not that it would have helped the centaurs, the noises I could hear from beyond the mist and the bolts of fiery death that had been quenched by the mist painted a picture of slaughter in our mind, making us think that our part of the job had worked out quite well. But attacking puppies needed to be taught a lesson, that they shouldn’t attack their betters, namely us and ours.

Contemplating, we thought about a way to attack, our normal means limited by the changed shape and that the items we normally used were somehow stuck wherever the bodies of Morgana and Lenore had ended up. But hadn’t we somehow used something quite similar to the frozen Vines of the Eisblumen? The idea bubbled up and, as fast as it came we decided to see if we could emulate our normal item.

Instinctively, we spread our wings and from the tips burst shadowy tendrils, darkness with a core of silver, reaching for the puppies and harassing them, striking their legs and ripping their flesh with sharp thorns. We even felt some of their life-blood getting drained, making us think that we had formed the vines with all our magic, making them especially lethal. Our sudden attack caused an easily exploited opening, allowing Sigmir and Rai to sink their weapons into two wolves while Adra managed to cripple a third, the wolves previously used pack-tactics broken.

We allowed ourselves to smile as we moved back to the centaur, thinking of ways to use these new vines, maybe even a way to use death-magic to bind the soul. For a moment, the image of a small crystal, long since carried in our pack flashed in our mind, the soul-prison we wanted to break. There might be something to be learned from it, even if part of us highly doubted that we had any chance to break it without a Nexus, not after what the Grandmother had told Morgana so long ago. But that was a contemplation for another day, nothing that we’d be able to solve while studying the unfortunate soul in our grasp.

It was at that moment, that the world, or at least our perception of the world changed, a sudden, overwhelming presence manifesting next to us, nothing that could be described in physical terms, if we perceived the life-force of others as gentle glow, this was the opposite. A nothingness so deep and unfathomable that words simply failed, concepts simply failed, and abyss deep enough that even a glimpse might break our minds, turning us into nothing but the gibbering mess in our grasp. Luckily, the focus of whatever it was was not on us but on the centaur.

While a part of us, a small, defiant part wanted to challenge the apparition, wanted to hold on to our test-subject, wringing even the last drop of suffering from its mind, until it’s very soul was ground to dust, instinct and a healthy dose of fear stopped even the idea of defiance. Not in the face of overwhelming power, we simply had no leg to stand on.

Loosening our grasp on the centaur, both logically and physically, we stepped back a little, glad to gain some distance from the bottomless abyss we were feeling and, despite a part of us protesting, gave a bow of supplication, a bow of respect to the superior power. But, somewhere in the back of our mind, was a voice shouting that she would gain power, gain enough power to make the apparition bow to us. Some day. Somehow.

To our senses, the apparition stretched out something, reaching for the centaur and, without any conflict, without any violence, the centaur simply died, her life fading away in a brief instant. Once her life was gone, her soul passed on to whatever came next, we felt a brief instance of scrutiny, the same sensation as being Observed, only magnified by orders of magnitude. We felt shivers running down our spine, our feathers puffing up, the sensation deeper than skin, deeper than bone, laying bare more than the flesh, peering into our very soul. It was…

Disconcerting.

But as sudden as the sensation appeared, it vanished again, our minds reeling, trying to comprehend just what was going on. We both were dealing with it in our own ways, the shock enough to destroy the unity within us, causing cracks to appear.

Stumbling, I barely managed to keep somewhat upright, falling to a knee to steady myself. Lenore wasn’t faring much better, sprawled in the grass with one wing propping her up in an uncomfortable manner. Reaching out, I picked her body up, partially to help her, partially seeking contact and comfort. I could feel my body shake from exhaustion, reeling from the effects of the merge and it’s sudden end. But the effects were not merely physical, but my mind was feeling the strain just as well, my thoughts muddled and unfocused.

“Are you alright?” I softly asked Lenore, her body similarly affected.

“No, not really.” she answered, the exhaustion obvious in her mental voice. “But I will be. And it was one interesting experience, one that I can’t really compare.” she added, now amusement shining through.

Pushing myself up, I looked down into the valley, after a quick check to make sure no wolves were sneaking up on me. What I could see below brought a grim smile on my face. The mist was lingering in the valley and from the sounds I was hearing, the centaur’s morale was thoroughly broken, their people scattered and fleeing. But fleeing was apparently difficult, flashes of fire were still arching from the front into the valley, burning those trying to escape. A quick look into my quest-log, confirmed that we had succeeded, the quest was completed. Now we just had to make sure the orcs won their part of the battle, if we wanted to bonus-reward.

Sigmir stepped next to me, quickly checking me over before Looking down into the mist, frowning.

“Should we head down there?” Sigmir asked, her voice cautious as Rai and Adra stepped up next to us. I hesitated for a moment, unsure. If we ran into trouble, it would be by stepping into the valley, possibly running into a centaur that wasn’t affected by the magic I had invoked.

“Would you like to go scouting?” I asked, looking over to Adra and Rai, leaving it to them. I knew that I would be stupid to attempt climbing down, my body exhausted and my mind muddled by the earlier experience. Even conjuring up small magic would be taxing and my control over it questionable. In addition, one of my biggest advantages, my connection to Lenore, wouldn’t be of much use, her current state quite similar to mine.

“We will see what we can find.” Adra decided, before looking over to Sigmir and me. “Will you meet up with us later, or should we return here?” she asked, my state apparently obvious to her.

“We will meet up later. For now, why don’t you see if you can find some of the loot the centaurs took, or maybe their prisoners? I tried to leave them out of my working but affecting many over a large area is difficult enough, without trying to be precise in your targeting.” I admitted, getting nods from Adra and Rai in return.