Astroarcane

“Be calm, Milo,” you murmur, placing a hand on his wrist.

He pauses in the middle of going for his Tome and gives you a look of sheer incredulity. “Are you insane, Blue?” he sputters. “You better not…”

The young Morloth slams into the two of you before the wizard can even finish his sentence, knocking you to the ground and slamming Milo into a solid wall. You hear his head crack loudly against the stone, but don’t have time to worry about that; the youth is clawing madly at your side, tearing at your flesh…

And now another is on you, and three more on Milo. Your lift your gaze to Khen’urgh as your hot blood flows out, scalding the Morlocks’ clawed hands; but he merely gazes at you impassively. You cannot quite tell if that look in his eyes is pity or surprise, or nothing at all.

“No,” you whisper, and belatedly try to summon up a burst of starforce; anything to get these creatures off you, get their claws out of your sides… but the pain is blossoming in you like a coronal mass ejection, and you can’t focus, can’t breathe, can’t see…

“SHAULA!” Milo bellows from somewhere nearby, and you hear the sudden roar of flames. The Morlocks scream in high-pitched terror; and suddenly there are lances firing all around you, and the world is growing so dim and cold and…