As Adam approached the man, he didn't hesitate.
He raised his hand and delivered a sharp slap across the Acolyte's face.
SMACK!
The force sent the man staggering sideways. For a split second Adam thought he might have overdone it, until the Acolyte straightened, looked at him with clear eyes, and broke into a wide grin.
"Thank you!" the man said sincerely, before sprinting off toward another section of the battlement to rejoin the fight.
Adam watched him go.
The man wasn't a masochist. The reason for that gratitude was simple: the slap had broken the illusion and disrupted the evil pixies' hold on the man, snapping the false reality apart.
Adam stepped into the spot the man had been occupying and slowly looked around.
The battlefield… was empty.
Now where could those pesky insects be? His nose suddenly twitched.
"Hh'TSH!"
Adam sneezed.
"Hh'TSH! Hh'TSH!"
He sneezed again and again before realization dawned.
Fucking insects.
