
Ari reached into the back of his mind, willing the entity residing there into form. "Your homecoming party will have to wait." The night grew still. "Sorry, friend," he whispered as it floated into his hand. He reached the corner of the pool and knelt down, placing his other hand just before the head of the body. These shadows were the most dangerous when you ignored them. The humanoid ones remained tangible while the more ephemeral ones lost their form altogether and lingered like smoke.Īri focused his gaze on the body, letting the smoke regain a more certain form but keeping the ones closest to him in his peripheral vision. The remaining traces of light traced the outlines of shifting silhouettes just out of view. A few seconds passed and it began to fade, dimming everything around Ari to a deeper shade of night. Harsh blue light brightened the yard like the sun, seeking out every corner. Ari flicked the cigarette ashes into the shadows and slipped it back into the pack.Ī sigil akin to a compass rose lit up beneath Ari's shirt and he pulled at the collar, exposing the smallest corner of it. It would only be satisfied after the job was done. A crackling artificial heat sated a lingering hunger but only by so much. Wisps of blue smoke escaped the corners of his mouth as the rest billowed, not outward but in, snaking its way to his lungs. He took a slow drag of a cigarette as he walked the edge, keeping pace with the body floating to the other side. Fully clothed, face-down, with that much excess mana? Guy didn't even have a chance. Ribbons of blue smoke seeped out of the man's back and evaporated into the night sky. It must have been ten, maybe fifteen minutes, since this man was put down in the middle of his pool. Terrible way to go, Ari noted as he stepped into the backyard.
