The last thing I remember was rushing back for Artie who had tripped on the stones while we were running for freedom. The horrible soulless things were upon us in a moment. I tried to grab her and was pushed back.

One of the things advanced on me. Pure coldness gripped my soul as I tried to scramble backwards. I preferred not to know what my end would be... I only felt that I had to escape: my own soul was at stake.

The thing had cornered me. It *looked* at me and it was like being turned inside out... it bent towards me and my will simply disappeared, washed away into a boundless horror.

Then the thing stopped. I felt like it was weighing me. Or was it some other will looking at me through its dead eyes, and giving it an order? It straightened and stood back. And that single action chilled me to my soul more than all the rest.

I scrambled on my feet. They were crowding around Artie's lifeles body, and I feared for her. But, from the way they stood, they looked perplexed, as though they could not really reach her wherever she was.

Still, I had to do something. The doctor in me urged me to save her at any cost. I bit my lip and charged bodily into the mass of dark monsters with a foolishness I didn't know I had.

One of them just turned and swatted me away like an annoying child. I just flew out a window I didn't even know was there...

Here I am, now, sitting on a meadow with a terrible headache. Wyvern Tower rears up into the distance: I tried to get back to help Artie, but I could not even pass the moat. I'm free, yes, so it seems; but I'm left here with worry for her and uncertainty for my future...

... and the horrifying question: why did the things let me go? What did they - or someone else - saw in me?...