SanityWriter

 I crawled to my feet, wiping a muddy mixture of dirt and blood from my hand onto a pine tree next to me. The blood had a strange feeling of static to it, and as I wiped it of several painful sparks popped, hurting and numbing my hand. I shook my right hand to regain feeling. The creature at my feet squirmed, its muscles flexing with obvious power, but its mask split and its expression hopeless. I slid the tip of my sword into its neck to ensure it wouldn't get up, and a burst of tiny sparks showered the blade. Whatever they'd done to this one had made it stronger and faster than the others. "Show that cut to Koberec." I said to Dywan, who

 The water of the healing altars soothed our aching bodies, numbing the cuts, and slowly healing mangled flesh. The spires of mud and unbroken rocks that bordered these hot springs signified that they were a holy place, a shrine to our prowess. If we wanted to be worthy of our own worship, we would have to earn it by defeating the new prey. The thought filled us with purpose, and gave us motivation to craft new spells, and devise a new strategy. As our bodies healed, we stepped out of the water, one by one, going to the sacred trees, and the enchanting rocks to devise a new kind of magic; maybe even something worth remembering as our bodie

 I paced at the edge of a rippling mountain lake, pulling my cloak around me, as the wind tore at my beard. The stars were completely obscured by clouds that flashed, and rumbled with lightning. Kilimas whimpered from the camp just behind me, but I didn't feel like looking at my injured cousin. Others could take care of him for a while. "Teppich, the camp is as secure as we know how to make it." said Dywan's voice. I turned and nodded at the young man, his brown beard was still thin with youth, and his cold blue eyes wide, like a child who just had a nightmare. He'd never been in real danger before. Of course he'd done some fighting in the

 The warm sun shone on our backs as we loped between tall pine trees in pursuit of a new kind of prey. We had never smelled their smell before, but we guessed they were mammals. The camps they made indicated intelligence, something we hadn't faced in many lifetimes. The thought of a challenge thrilled us, filling our minds, and thoughts with schemes; plans to catch the strange new prey. We always enjoyed hunting, but the deer, and even the bears were hardly a challenge. They made no plans, and few were strong enough to put up a fight. Even in groups, they could not share their thoughts. They could not act as a single being. They were nothin