Gift of Self

Matera falls as she is struck with full force by the Kraken's tentacle. The Leviathan smashed through the mage's protective barrier as if it were a thin layer of glass. Her broken body topples backwards as she feebly utters incantations to repair her shattered bones. I feel her draw on all her strength to repair her body, fighting for her life, before the raging waters envelop her and drag her down into the abyss. I feel her despair. I feel her panic. She doesn't want to die. She clings to life. Her instinct is to fight. What else would you expect in her situation? But using her magic like that is futile. She is doomed, and wasting her Mana isn't helping anyone. There are better choices and other people that this energy could actually help. Our aim is to destroy the Kraken, and Matera simply isn't strong enough to face it.

I watch Afanas through the crystal ball. The old Battlemage looks on in horror as his protégé falls like a ragdoll. He could still be useful... if he can manage to ignore his melancholy. I start to incant and project my will across space and time into the glass ball. Like a wolf pouncing on its prey, I begin to tear apart Matera's essence, whispering to her to offer herself in sacrifice. She's a lost cause now. But her master can still benefit from her sacrifice. For a moment, I get the feeling that she can read me like an open book, that she can discern my true nature... But in the end, I feel her spirit resigning itself to her inevitable death. I tear out the Mana from her body and project it to her mentor, just before the crystal ball cracks.

Lindiwe

392 AC