Intruders

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Emotions quivered outside the bubble of awareness, assaulted it with explosions of renewed hope and of outrage when it became clear that the glimpses of divine essence could not possibly be the living, breathing Gods. Their emergence from the Portal ought to have been announced through the dark lands like the strike of a gong, seen or heard or at the very least felt by all who lived here.

Fuming to hirself, Ilunga flitted like a restless ghost from one cluster of newcomers to the next, all while the strain of keeping up the spell ate away at hir strength. In the agitation, ze forgot the most important thing when doing anything with magic. Forgot every lesson ze had ever received on separating the mind and scouting ahead, lessons learned through time immemorial by hir honored ancestors.

Ze was not alone.

When the presence struck, it was already too late.

Ripples of alarm washed over the ethereal form of Ilunga as the entity tore at hir awareness, sweeping through hir being like a foul wind. In mindless fear Ilunga fled back towards the sea, hurtling across the expanse until ze slammed back into hir body and came awake with a gasp. The gold-rimmed gills pulsated rapidly to still hir beating heart, but it would take a long time before Ilunga was calm again. Ze felt sullied by the touch of the sentience, befouled and aching and... and somehow... less than before. Suspicion narrowed the eyes as ze hastily raffled through the abilities that had been hirs from the time of birth, and a scream of anger reverberated through the cavern walls.

Robbed! Bereft, it had been taken from hir! Oh, this was bad, this was very bad and it was all their fault. If not for them the presence would not have awakened, ze would never have been tempted to risk this travel, and now...

Now ze had grown more vulnerable still. And Ilunga would not stand for that.

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