even think about it, Jonas,” Diomond said playfully as he kept his eyes on the cup above him.
Jonas smiled and set the cup back down on the table. He had a slight headache and he absently reached up to rub his temples. Everyone looked at Jonas and grinned with excitement. It was infectious and so he forgot about the minor headache and smiled back.
“Gentlemen, we are in the presence of an IshMian,” declared Kiln grandly as if he were introducing royalty.
***
The wound in the Greever’s chest had healed, but it had taken a long time. The beast would not forget that magical axe that had cut through its muscle and bone. It had been a long while since the demon felt that kind of pain, but it would take more than that to stop the hunter. The demon feared nothing, except for its master, Gould the Tormenter.
The Greever also knew that the man who had summoned him, if you could call Malbeck a man, was Gould’s general in this world. The beast knew that its master had plans for this pitiful plane of existence, and that this powerful man, or demonoid, for he was definitely part of the evil that created him, was its master’s link to this land called Kraawn.
Malbeck was furious that the Greever had not accomplished its task. But instead of sending the demon back to finish the hunt, he had sent the Greever on another hunt, one that it relished. This new task promised the beast plenty of blood; blood that tasted better than most since it pulsed with the white light of the Ru’Ach. The demon loved the feeling of that pure light being extinguished by its claws and teeth. These were hunts worthy of its powers.
***
“Alright, Jonas, try and stop the rocks as we throw them!” yelled Lambeck as he and Kiln gathered up a handful of stones about thirty paces away.
“Okay!” Jonas yelled back beginning to calm his mind. It was easy for Jonas to concentrate on one stone and stop it, but it got more difficult when he had to concentrate on several.
They had been practicing his IshMian skills trying to figure out the extent of his power. They had learned quickly that it was a skill, something that required practice and mental strength. They also learned that his power was also tied to his ability to enter Ty’erm. As that skill progressed, so did his IshMian powers. It was like his brain was a muscle, the more he used it the more power he could draw upon. Any expenditure of this power caused him headaches, and the greater the use of the power, the greater the severity of the pain. It was difficult to do it quickly but he was getting stronger and faster the more he practiced.
Jonas had learned the hard way that if he tried to focus on each object individually that he couldn’t stop them all. He still had several bruises on his body from stones that made it through his mental barrier. Jonas had learned that he could actually create an invisible wall of energy that could block a larger amount of objects. It was a strange feeling for Jonas, one that he couldn’t really explain. He began to learn things about the world that were strange concepts to him. In his mind’s eye he could see that everything had its own energy, including the air that connected everything together. Jonas thought that he must be actually seeing the Ru’Ach, the energy of all things. That is how he could control objects and even people, he learned. With his mind he could actually touch everything around him. The farther away the object, the harder it was, the more objects there were, the harder it was. The more powerful the person, the harder they were to control, which caused more severe headaches. If he used his skills for a long duration, or concentrated heavily on something large or far away, it would also cause him severe headaches. They got so bad a few times that he collapsed in pain, his head swimming with dizziness. It was a powerful skill but not without its drawbacks.
The rocks flew in quickly, one after the other. Jonas held up his hand and concentrated on creating an invisible wall of energy. In his mind’s eye the particles in the air in front of him spun into a translucent wall of force, and the rocks smacked against it silently to fall to the ground.