A gentle, unnatural breeze swept through the room, lifting the hood off his face, revealing a bronze face with black shoulder-length hair and a burnished beard that covered the lower half of his face.
The most striking feature about the man was his eyes, which glowed eerily with a golden light. His bewitching eyes swept across the room, surveying the carnage around him before focusing on Morgan’s limp body. Completely ignoring Zagrul, the newcomer strode forward with measured steps.
The stranger gently lifted Morgan into a sitting position and placed his hand on Morgan’s chest.
A golden glow spread slowly, increasing in intensity until it enveloped Morgan’s limp form completely.
"Wake up, Morgan." The man’s voice powerfully reverberated through Morgan’s mind, its power literally prying him from the jaws of death.
Morgan’s eyes slowly fluttered open, the wounds that riddled his body healing themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye, his broken bones realigning themselves with audible snaps.
Morgan watched in disbelief as his torn muscles sewed themselves back together.
"Who are you?" Morgan croaked weakly.
"My name is Alsterius. I’m simply an old friend of the family of Thane.
I came to repay an old debt." Alsterius said with a smile.
As he spoke, the space around him started to pulsate with power, seemingly contracting and relaxing in on itself.
Sensing the change, Zagrul roared and immediately sprang back.
He leapt, pushing off the ground with such terrible force that the floorboards imploded beneath his feet. Zagrul’s form became blurred as he moved with blistering speed, leaping at the assailant.
"Play time’s over," He snarled.
Gently laying Morgan down, Alsterius stood up, eyes staring at the approaching form of Zagrul with a coldness that would’ve frosted over a lake.
" To think that you’d stoop so low as to go after a child, one who hasn’t even come into his own at that," Alsterius muttered quietly.
His eyes bored into Zagrul’s, who calmly returned the gaze.
As he looked into Alsterius’ eyes, a harrowing fear suddenly swept through him, rendering him incapable of coherent thoughts.
The distance between him and the stranger seemed to increase instead of decreasing. As he sped up, his body suddenly slammed into what felt like a brick wall with a sickening thud; such was the impact that he momentarily saw stars.
Of course, no brick wall could stop him at such a blistering speed.
" You must be wondering what just happened," Alsterius said as he watched Zagrul roll and spring up, quickly recovering from the impact.
"I compressed the space in front of you, figured I would slow you down a bit, that should have finished you off, but let’s try that again, only a little differently this time."
Zagrul once again darted forward, zigzagging from side to side elusively to throw his assailant off.
As he leapt forward, time seemed to slow to a crawl, or rather, he came to the sudden realization that he was suspended in space. Alsterius suddenly materialized in front of him.
"Here, let me help you with that." Alsterius cheerfully said as he reached out an arm towards Zagrul. Suddenly, one of Zagrul’s furred upper limbs was cleanly separated from his torso.
His eyes widened in shock as he finally registered what had happened, letting out an agonized wail.
"I need to run...must...get away from here," he gasped.
The simple act of breathing sapped his strength unimaginably.
"There wasn’t supposed to be any interference; this wasn’t part of the plan."
Alsterius stretched out his hand, and an invisible force slammed into Zagrul, lifting him higher into the air.
With visible effort, the shape shifter asked in a strained voice, "Who are you? What.... are...you?" Alsterius’ eyes seemed to brand his very soul as he looked into Zagrul’s crazed eyes. "Those eyes..." Suddenly, a haunting memory rose from his subconscious." It can’t be, the Thanes managed to..." Zagrul’s body shuddered, and his eyes bulged comically in their sockets from the strain of the terrible pressure.
Alsterius whispered ever so quietly, "Be gone..."
Zagrul’s mouth opened in a soundless scream as his body seemed to fold in on itself before grotesquely imploding itself organs and viscera spewing in different directions before being immediately vaporized by a searing heat.
Morgan fainted. Google seaʀᴄh novęlfire.net
With an unearthly grace, Alsterius moved back, seemingly gliding through the air. "Farewell, young heir of Thane, may we meet again in better circumstances." Alsterius walked away with measured strides, the space in front of him crackling with electricity.
A long vertical slit appeared, forming a fissure which widened just enough to accommodate him. He stepped through, the space sealing itself instantaneously, erasing any trace of his presence.
In the distance, sirens wailed fire trucks rushed to the apartment building to put out the fire.
In another part of the city, a phone rang, its shrill tone slicing through the stillness of the night.
A man stirred awake to receive the call.
" The boy is still alive. It appears he may be more of a threat than we anticipated. Zagrul is dead. What are your orders, sir?"
There was a pause, then in a calm, measured voice, he said, " For now we bide our time...and wait."