The ember fox kicked and clawed for leverage as desperation surged through her veins. Then she called on her flames and the familiar heat began to stir within, licking at her fur, a faint bluish glow rising from her skin.
But before it could bloom, the goblin's massive hand darkened. A sickly shimmer of green-black energy coursed across his palm, coiling like smoke.
Ariel's eyes widened as the heat within her chest suddenly faltered, then began to die.
She felt it immediately—her mana, being siphoned away.
The fire in her veins went cold.
The power she had summoned vanished as if smothered by an unseen hand.
"What—?" she gasped, the word strangled by the pressure on her neck.
Shock rippled through her expression as she tried again to gather mana, to form even the smallest spark. Nothing came.
Her mana flow was erratic, scrambled, like her connection to it had been severed.
