Emotions running high, Kael had not had time to think before acting. That was why, when his fist collided with the grey, loose, wrinkled skin on the creature's face, he did not expect the thing to completely ignore his attack. Just like the bullets his friend had fired at it, Kael felt like he was slamming his fist into a steel wall. Ghostly, pale eyes crossed his. There was nothing there, Kael thought, as he looked into those white orbs it had for eyes. Devoid of emotion or life. He could not stop looking. Even though he knew that the being was probably already in the process of attacking him, he could not rip his eyes away from the enchanting abyss. Then it came.

Something impacted him on the left side of his chest so hard that he felt lifted off the ground for a second. Oxigen escaped his lungs, followed by the contents of his stomach a short while later. He collapsed like a doll that had its strings cut. Heaving, he heard Martin shout a warning at him and threw himself to the ground almost on instinct. The sound of air being cut at high speeds reached his ears before he felt something pass over him, right where his head had been a few moments ago. Everything hurt. He knew that something was seriously wrong with his body at the spot he had taken the first hit, but this was not the time to succumb to the pain. He needed to move to get away from the thing and help his friends. Summoning whatever strength he had left in his body, he staggered, tumbling back, expecting another strike to hit his back as he fled. The strike never came.

Desperate, he stumbled forward, focusing on not falling flat on his face. Suddenly, he felt warm hands wrap around his midriff, right where he had been hit. Soothing energy seeped into his body. It was making the pain somewhat bearable and cleared his mind a little. Leaning on the arm that still supported him both magically and physically, he looked up into Martin’s grim face. The smile that was usually present was gone. Then he remembered that his friend had stopped to cast something as they were rushing towards Andrea before. Whatever magic Martin had been working on must have finally been finished, or did he stop because I messed up again? He tried to extend the strange senses that had alerted him to the presence of magic but could not focus long enough to learn anything as the pain and his mind kept him occupied. ‘Bang!’ Another gunshot exploded into the eery silence of the night.

Ah! At least she is still fine, he thought. He did not need to look to know who had fired the gun. “Don’t waste your ammunition! You can’t hurt it!” Martin shouted. “Then what do we do?! How long do those hold anyway?” The frustration and helplessness distorted Andrea’s voice so much that he had trouble recognizing it. What did she mean by that second question anyway? “Not long enough, I'm afraid. The spell isn’t expensive, but that mana-beast is strong. With both of you injured we won't get far if we run either.” That didn’t sound good. There must be something they can do, right? He had just made a friend, just found magic, just found a job, and he actually enjoyed the work too. Andrea and Martin continued exchanging ideas, but he shut them out and focused on thinking. He couldn’t run! That much was certain. Could they fight it? Hah! No way. The thing was basically invincible to anything Andrea or he could do. Why hadn’t someone shown him how to use magic? Then he could do something. If only Martin had more mana. Here he sat, with almost full reserves, while his friend was running out of it trying to keep them alive.

Wait a second. Maybe? Could this work? He knew far too little about magical items to evaluate if his idea was feasible. Was it just desperation that made him cling to the idea, his own mind trying to trick him into believing that he could help? “This is it. I’m almost done. Shitty police taking so long to get here.” It was now or never. What was the worst that could happen? Did they die? That would happen anyway, regardless of his success or failure. Groaning loudly because of the pain, he straightened out his back, staggering a little in the process. He saw Andrea, staring in anger at her useless firearm. Martin still had his arm around him, supporting him like he had been doing since they had met. His other arm was stretched out, his hand clasping a small, round, glowing, metal disk. The focus of the spell.

Being so close, Kael felt Martin’s mana flow into the spell-focus with great clarity. Unlike the healing, there was no green hue visible before it exited the item. A sigh of relief escaped him. He had a chance to succeed then. He disentangled himself from Martin’s grip, taking a small step back before placing his hands on his friend's back. He closed his eyes and focused. Just as he had done so many times before working on his mana-pool, he reached out to his mana. Now, instead of pulling a chunk of it out to disperse, he only took a little bit, careful to not rupture its connection to the greater whole before drawing it up and out. Then, still keeping the string under control, he extended his senses again, only this time towards his hands.

There he found a barrier. His zone of control, his body, had ended, but it was not enough for what he wanted to do. In an enormous effort of will, he pushed and pushed against the barrier until it broke. He almost lost control of his mana as pain ripped into his concentration. Forging on, he dragged the string of mana with him. Somewhere in the periphery of his senses, he felt a stream of mana, slowly carrying less and less mana as its reservoir emptied. That was it. In a last hoorah of effort, he threw the string into the stream, connecting his own reservoir with the stream, sustaining Martin’s spell with his own mana. Everything still hurt. Even with his mana, the magic would soon fizzle out. At least he had done something to help his friends.