Salazar felt the emotions of the party that had gathered pressing against the walls of the mental fortress constructed in the illusionists mind. It was akin to the heady feeling of drunkenness yet every muddled feeling, emotion and question came to his mind with complete clarity. It was a heady cocktail of confidence, fear, aggression, loyalty and deceit. One that told Salazar all he needed to know about the party. His eyelids shut for a second as he remembered the instruction his teacher had once bestowed upon him.

[i]“An Illusionist is nothing without the inborn ability to read minds” The grizzled Grim growled at the young man that was his protégé “To heed the darkest fears and the most upheld ideals is how we ply our trade…so you must learn to decipher the emotions” the man’s voice was more guttural noise than human words “Got it? Good” [/I]

Salazar opened his eyes to the group which had once more gotten bigger in the moments he had taken to compose himself. Things were crawling walls and another mage had gathered to the cause. The little trip of reverie down memory lane had taken longer than the Illusionist had expected. He caught the final part of Hazael’s speech and nodded gently, the fighting was something he could possibly not help with too greatly…illusions were notoriously ineffective against things of lower intelligence. Looking over the group he noticed a prostrated man kneeling to the mage that had appeared. He stifled a grin “ahh…Chloe Chevalier…such an honour that you grace us with our presence” he said with a good natured smile before clapping Hazael on the shoulder and leaning down to whisper to her “When they leave…I must have a chat with you…in private” He straightened back up and held his palm out, blue energy flowing into it and creating multiples of the little blue bird messengers that was his favoured method of communication. He breathed animation in to them before letting them loose to gather some favours he deemed necessary. The birds, crystalline sapphire formations, shot into the air and spread out quickly.