You lunge forward, boots splashing through puddles as you close the distance in three desperate strides. Your fingers clamp around the girl's wrist, cold and clammy, and you yank with all your might—but the man's grip is like iron. He snarls, spinning to face you, and the purple glow around his fingers intensifies into a searing light that stabs at your eyes. A wave of nausea crashes over you as the air around him warps, and you feel an unnatural pull, as if your very will is being siphoned away.

The girl screams, a raw and terrified sound, and drops to her knees, released as the mage turns his full attention on you. He raises his free hand, and a bolt of crackling violet energy shoots forth, slamming into your chest with the force of a battering ram. You are hurled backward, skidding across the wet cobblestones, the breath knocked from your lungs. Your vision swims, and you taste copper in your mouth as the mage looms over you, his eyes burning with cold fury.