Breath. Breath Damn it!
Good! Now wake up. Come on, I know you can do it.
Good. Look up, look up! None of them see you. They haven’t realised yet. We can use that to our advantage.
I can?
Of course. Can you feel that?
Yes, what is it?
I believe it’s a little parting gift from our not so friendly benefactor. I think it’s how she plans for us to move that creature she had over there.
Creature? Do you mean the boy?
I highly doubt it’s just some boy. Not with what she was saying. I know you thought the same thing. I could feel our heart beating so fast as we stared at him. Quite enrapturing really.
I have no idea what you’re going on about!
Sure you don’t. But that’s a matter for later, right now we need to focus on the task at hand. So, do you think you can pull it off?
I don’t know. It’s not like any spell I’ve ever seen before. Hell, I’m not even sure that it really is magic.
Ohh it is. It’s just that it’s been forgotten, lost to the sands of time. But luckily for us, she’s given us the key, and all we need to do now is to burn that key into our memory. Think you can do that?
I think so.
Good girl.
I know things haven’t worked out like you planned, but this might just get everything back on track. So focus, burn what you’re feeling into your mind. Make it your own!
Good. Now this is where the fun truly begins.
But first, let’s remove that knife shall we? It’s quite an inconvenience, wedged in our hand like that.
The pain....
Stop crying, and pull it out. The quicker you do it the less it’ll hurt.
See! I was right, wasn’t I?
Yes.
Hurry! We don’t have all day. That woman only jump started our body, but it won’t last for long on it’s own. We need to sustain it, keeping it alive long enough to heal.
How?
You know how. So stand. Come on stand.
Nice! Well done.
Ready?
I think-
Don’t think. Do.
Yes! Perfect. Gather it, all of it. Feel that power, it’s yours, yours to control.
Now, unleash it.
They’ve seen me.
Of course they have, anyone would’ve sensed the mana we’re giving off right now. Now, watch out for their guns, we’re not invincible.
Too late.
Dodge!
Or don’t. I guess we are invincible.
I doubt we’re invincible. Invulnerable maybe. These bullets still hurt by the way. Just seems I can heal faster than they can damage me.
Neat.
Yes, it is quite neat.
We best stop complimenting ourselves, and maybe, you know, finish completing the spell.
Good idea. I wonder what it’ll do, don’t you?
Yes.
I hope it kills them slowly, I want them to suffer. Samuel especially. Considering what he did to me.
Agreed, he does deserve to suffer.
Glad we could see eye to eye on that. Disagreeing with yourself can be rather unhealthy. Anyway, here I go! Let’s see what this’ll do.
Wow, look at that.
How big is this magic circle? Ten, no. Twenty meters. Goodness, look at what you’ve done. They’re trapped in it, all of them.
So are we.
We’ll be fine. See, it’s got a separate section that surrounds us, protects us.
So it does.
Wait, is the ground-
Cracking open like a door? Yes, yes it is. My word, this is cool.
Wait, are those shadows? No they look like them, but they’re not. What are they?
I don’t know. But they seem to be going after them, look! They’re hunting them down.
So they are. Oh! Look, look over there! To the left, see it?
Do I. That thing, that shadow. It cut him clean in half. And over there, by the tree line!
Are those hands? Look, they’re hands! Hundreds of them. Look at them go! The poor guy, he’s firing his gun wildly but the bullets are going right through them.
They’ve grabbed his leg, look at him scream.
Now they’ve got his arms too. How interesting.
They’re lifting him off the ground! I wonder what will happen-
Damn, they pulled him apart. Did you see that.
I did.
Cool right?
Very.
Hey, where’s Samuel, I don’t see him. He didn’t escape did he?
No, I saw him before the circle went up. He’s here somewhere. Can you see his bodyguards anywhere?
I can see what’s left of one, Roche was it? He’s just had his legs cut off.
Arms too, by the look of it.
Oh, so he has.
Look at him squirm.
Is it bad that I don’t feel bad about any of this.
No. Neither do I.
Duck-
Well done! So there’s where he’d been hiding.
Look out, he’s swinging the knife again!
How’d he get so close? He’s already inside the protective circle.
Looks like he can use some form of pseudo-invisibility.
Pseudo-invisibility?
He doesn’t actually make himself invisible, instead he-
Nevermind, this isn’t the time to explain, he’s coming again, make sure to dodge.
Do you think I’m still invulnerable?
I don’t know. Want to find out?
Sure.
Wow! Sure looks like you are, but boy he really went for it didn’t he, stabbing us in the heart, now that’s just mean.
He looks scared.
He is scared. Wouldn’t you be if something you stabbed in the heart didn’t die? It’s like something out of a fantasy novel.
Like a vampire?
Yes, like a vampire.
Quick, don’t let him go.
That’s it, keep hold of his arm. I want to savour the look in his eyes a little more. You sound so cliche.
Maybe I do. I never realised how ugly he was before. I mean he’s not disfigured, but he’s just so scrawny, almost like a starved rat.
Can I let him go now? He’s the only one left now, also he doesn’t smell very nice.
Go on then, but pull that knife out our heart first.
Ohh that was cruel. Stabbing him with his own knife. Look at him flail, he’s heading right for the shadows.
Look! The shadows, they’ve turned into hands again.
They’re after him.
They’ve got him.
I wonder, will they tear him apart like... like...
Roche.
Ahh yes, Roche. He wasn’t a very nice man either.
No, but then we’re not very nice either.
Look at them, they’re pulling him into the magic circle itself.
Is it feeding off him?
I don’t know, maybe, it’s hard to tell, with him disintegrating as he is. Looks painful though, from how loudly he’s screaming. It’s such a shrill scream too, what an utter disappointment.
I don’t know, I quite enjoy it. It’s a satisfying end after what he did to me.
Agreed.
Oh! He’s gone, dragged away into that crack in the ground.
Look! It’s not just him, all of them. The shadows, they’re devouring them. Something’s happening, the shadows are rising up. What the hell they doing!
It’s almost as if they’re melting together, forming something new from all they’ve absorbed.
So the question is-
What are they making.
Exactly.
They’re not forming a skeleton, or tissue, it’s just a shape of a person.
So it’s an illusion?
No, it’s real, but it’s not a human, that’s for sure.
Of course it’s not human, I’d recognise that creature anywhere. And so could you.
I could?
Of course, it’s him after all, that boy, the creature from the pool.
Oh.
Oh Indeed. He looks even more attractive in person.
Debateable.
You thought so too, don’t deny it, I can feel your heartbeat racing.
Which is nice, considering the alternative. 
True. Now, let’s go find out what the hell is going on.
Now, that is something I can agree on.

Next Chapter: 9 - Stray (Work Very Much In Progress)