A cool breeze carried the stench of death and decay as the robed figure stood among the corpses that still bore the shaken and horrified expressions that had graced their features as the lone enemy struck them down with the very souls of their fallen brethren.
The remaining five leather clad warriors circled the traveler warily, cautiously holding their iron swords out front.
"You could've left me alone." The robed man said, pulling the large battleaxe from his back and loosely holding it in his left hand.
"Ye killed our men, now we gonna kill ya." The one bandit in front of him said, taking a step forward and nodding to the others to do the same.
The man tightened his grip on the mighty weapon and suddenly seemed to grow taller and stronger. Faster than any of the bandits thought possible, the man swung his axe in a wide circle, cleaving the head off the one directly behind him. A grey spirit flew from the fallen man and into the robed figure. In one fluid motion he dropped his axe and extended his right hand toward a faster approaching warrior and released a blast of what looked like grey air.
Without a horrified scream, the man's eyes grew wide and teary, he stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees. With a final unearthly cry the man fell backwards, his soul utterly annihilated by his own companion's.
"I will give you one more chance to flee, this is wasting my time." The man was growing impatient.
"Per'aps we should, he's already killed five of us." One said, lowering his sword slightly.
"No!" Said the first one again, glaring hatefully at the battle mage. "You kill one of us, you die."
With a snarl of impatience, the wizard's arms burst into magical flame. He pointed his hands toward the leader and simply said. "Burn." A great cone of fire shot forward and with a pained shout, the charred body fell lifeless to the ground. Turning to the remaining threw, whose eyes were wide in terror and amazement.
"Are you going to get into my way again?" He said as he picked up his axe and replaced it on his back. They didn't bother to answer but simply fled, each in a different direction.
"That took too long, I've wasted too much time!" The man said to himself, striking his leg with his hand. "There has to be some dark magic here, there has to be!" He sound convincingly as he walked aimlessly forward.
