Reality

Koa deals with the approaching orc in a direct manner, swatting aside the clumsy chop and delivering a stiff blow to the side of their head with the haft of his hammer. The orc drops like a felled tree, hopefully just ****. However, that was only the first, and the soldiers around them are not as skilled as the champions.

Kael draws his long, scythe like blade, disarming the first of the enthralled slaves that approaches. A bash with the hilt renders them **** as well, though the panic rising within him is stealing the artistry from his bladework. It takes an annoyed shout from Orin to break Kael’s fugue.

“Kael, you idiot, use your power! Stop playing around!”

Kael blinks, surprised by his own stupidity. Of course, he can nullify the magic forcing these slaves into action. The other champions protect him as he focuses, extending his null field outward. Almost instantly, however, he can tell something is wrong. It’s as if something is pushing back, resisting the nullification. Opening his eyes, he can see the runes on the collars nearby glowing brighter, and the harder he pushes his powers outward, the brighter they glow.

There’s a look of panic in the eyes uf the nearest ****, a stout dwarven woman with an axe, as her collar glows brightly. Wisps of smoke start to rise from her neck, and Kael can smell the sickly smell of her skin beginning to char. With a gasp, he relaxes his concentration.

“I…I can’t do it. Something is blocking my powers here!”

Ria bludgeons another **** into unconsciousness, glancing back at Kael. “What? How?”

“I don’t know. I can’t stop this!”

Just then, a muscular, scaled **** steps in, driving a spear towards Kael. The body betrays the mind, sometimes. Despite his conscious desires, after years of fighting, some things become instinctive. He weaves aside, bringing his sword around in a deadly arc. The enchanted blade barely slows with the impact, and the lizard man drops, bisected at the waist.

Kael stares, somewhat in shock at what he’s done. There are tears in his eyes as he dispatches his next foe, careful to club them **** instead. He takes a wound, a cut on his arm, as his focus wavers, but he presses on. The only other option is to give up, and that’s no option at all.

A soldier nearby falls, and Kael steps forward to fill the gap. He gasps in shock once again as he sees who he’s facing. A holstaur, seemingly stepping straight from his dream. She’s identical to the one he saw! She thrusts her bloody sword at him, and Kael can see the tears running from her eyes as he parries the attack.

Tears to match his own.

Kael’s sword spins in his hand, the bright arc of the blade shattering the weapon the holstaur bears. There’s fear in those eyes, tinged with sadness. Even as she reaches for him barehanded, Kael can see the despair. She lunges for him, and he avoids her grasp, raising his blade for the deathblow.

He can’t do it. The blade hangs in the air, and Kael freezes.

“No.”

He feels something building within him, a burning pressure.

“No!”

The holstaur recovers and turns, reaching for him again, her hands going for his throat.

“NO!”

Suddenly, there’s a feeling of release, and Kael’s vision whites out. He can hear cries of alarm, but he feels paralyzed, unable to move at all. The shouting grows distant, unrecognizable. Vaguely, he hears what sounds like shattering glass, and then nothing.