The energy beam, if it had ever materialized, had never been aimed at the small mage. He would have been safe regardless of his sudden sidestepping action.

What he wasn't safe from was the darkened brooding of his former leader. The Wakened... He felt anything but. All of this was more like walking through a dream where nothing was real, nothing actually mattered, with Emeraude gone... there was nothing.

"It means we were foolish to answer."