People shouted, pulling at his arm, his body, begging him, demanding him to stop, but he neither heard nor saw them. The Spiritwalker rasped, pleading...for his life as Jakal denied him of breath. Thrown backwards with great force, the young man landed with a grunt against the inner perimeter of the crowd. Stunned, he looked down to see an enormous hand pressed against his chest, holding him stationary. ‘Stop, Jakal.’ Lifting his eyes toward the man towering above them all, Tejed, the great. Willbond,’ Nadine said in alarm. ‘I…um…what are you doing here?’ Vanessa did not wait for Nadine’s shock to wear off,’ I tried to convince you sweet Nadine. Over and over sweet Nadine we talked about a man’s place,’ as Vanessa called her ‘sweet Nadine’ John could see Nadine’s eyes start to glaze over,’ sweet Nadine you have to eventually choose your own path. I can only guide you. That’s right sweet Nadine, you’re starting to feel so relaxed.’ Vanessa turned to John,’ let’s go to the living. "Stace, that sounded almost like a plea. What's up?"Stacey looked down for a moment, and then sighed and looked back up. "I know we aren't supposed to know anything other than medical history on our students, but I think I need to know a little more than that about one of my current charges."Missy smirked. "Mr. Richards, I presume?"Stacey looked shocked. "How in the world... ?" Oh, come on, Stace. You've never really cared what was in the file of any of your other students, and if you wanted to. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Aided by petrol, it caught quickly, licks of flame consumed bough and branch. The ravens circled, flanked by skeletal trees as sentinels to our ritual. Riding on the thermals from the huge conflagration, one descended.Watching, it came to me with a quizzical tilt to its head.In the purgatory of a blinked eye, their naked bodies shimmered in the orange light. Every soul touched by me in their dreams.Runes in soot decorated their skin, head anointed with fragrant oil..