It all happened so quickly that Mira had hardly even realized what had happened. The second her whip was supposed to make contact with the mysterious man, his book came flying toward her, absorbing her whip into the pages as grew larger and larger until-

[i]CLAP![/i]

Mira couldn’t help but cringe, shutting her eyes as the book slammed shut around her and half expecting to be crushed by the pages, but… she wasn’t. Her eyes shot open in shock looking about to see, well, nothing. Nothing but black void surrounded her no matter which way she turn. She wasn’t even quite sure if she was truly standing on [i]anything[/i].

[color=red]“Where…?”[/color] she murmured, though her moment to process anything was short lived for it only took a moment for the strange creature to appear, as though they had slithered out of the nothingness itself and leaving her surrounded before ultimately luging toward her. Mira was quick to react this time, though. She had been watching closely as she went about the village, and though at first it seemed as though they moved about without any rhyme or reason, she could predict where they were going. With a flick of her wrist she sent her toward one of the creatures, wrapping around what she could only assume was its torso. And with a mighty pull, or as mighty as she could muster, she sent the creature flying into one of the others behind her.

[i] "You may as well surrender..." [/i]

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the mysterious… boy? He didn’t even look much older than Mira, so how could he be such a skilled mage? She swung around with her whip, suddenly engulfed in flames once again as she went to strike the boy, but as soon as it should have made contact, he suddenly disappear, her attack striking through a creature instead. Mira must have been caught off guard by the boy’s disappearance, for a creature struck her from behind, sending her tumbling forward. It only took her an instance to regain her composure, rolling back to her feet and out of her tumble, lunging for the creature and blazing through it with yet another fire strike.

[i] "...A novice like you couldn't hope to match me in a contest of illusions."[/i]

He appeared again between two creatures as they danced about like puppets. Was he [i]toying[/i] with her? She gestured toward the boy with a single hand, sending forth a blast of fire. Yet again, though, the boy disappeared, and the attacked merely sent the surrounding creatures ablaze. He wasn’t wrong, though, Mira was still but a mage with the status of a mere apprentice. Though most would actually need a mentor to even be considered an apprentice. So how in the world could someone so young have such prowess as a mage? Something did not feel right… But she couldn’t let that get to her, and she could not let on that his tactics were working. She had to focus on the task at hand.

[color=red]“And a professional wouldn’t rely on minions and cheap tricks!”[/color] she retorted, tightening her grip on her whip. [color=red]“Who are you? What do you 
want with my village?”[/color]