Bursting thru an aged metal grate, Colin falls twenty or thirty feet down to a dried-up water channel. His elbows and knees reflexively extend, saving the rest of his body from the heavy impact. His feet scrape against the ancient, dusty cement under him as he begins running. Behind him, two men fall thru the broken grate, landing on their feet and firing fully-automatic rifles at Colin.

Dodging to one side, Colin flattens himself against the side of the channel, rapidly whispering a prayer to himself.

"Eleya, Goddess of Air, protect me now from my enemies!"

As the words escape Colin's lips, he is instantly filled with energy. The air around him begins to swirl in a swift flurry. His pursuers fire their guns at him with dead aim, but their bullets hit the wall inches from him.

Pushing off the wall, Colin begins to run again. He is fired at again, but every shot misses him, pushed off of their straight coarse by the wind that circles around Colin. The three of them, hunters and hunted, sprint down the length of the channel. Colin feels his strength drop, as his whole energy is concentrated on sustaining the protective cyclone of air around him. He knows that he won't be able to run at full speed and protect himself for long. His eye catches the sight of a grated pipe on one side of the channel, and he automatically goes for it.

Crashing thru the brittle grate, Colin goes head-long into the pipe, sliding down its steep slope. He releases the air around him, and his body gasps for energy. As he slides down thru the pipe, he quiets his mind, trying to gather energy. The dust of the pipe choaks his lungs, and he holds his breath.

Colin's slide is slowed when the pipe's slope diminishes, and soon Colin is totally stopped. His heart is gripped with panic, first at the thought of being stuck in the pipe, and second at the thought of his pursuers catching up with him. He listens to hear if they have begun sliding down behind him, but he hears nothing. Then he hears a "tink-tink-tink" of a grenade rolling down the pipe. His panic triples.

"Gregoth, God of Earth, protect me now from my enemies!" Colin speaks, hoping he has enough energy in his body to sustain Gregoth's spell.

Colin feels his body fill up with energy again, and the cement around him shatters, clinging to his skin and creating a thick crust. Thru his thick, protective cement shell, Colin feels the grenade hit his feet. Then he feels the intense force of the grenade's explosion as it shoots him out of the pipe. His protective shell is crumbles as he flies out of the pipe into a large room, and he lands in a pile of ancient garbage.

As Colin tries to get to his feet, he falls back into the garbage. His body is almost completely drained of energy, and he can barely move. Crawling clumsily thru the garbage, Colin can barely see anything. He falls again, and he rolls down the side of the pile of garbage. Arriving at the bottom of the garbage pile, Colin lays helpless, unable to move.

Breathing deeply, Colin begins collecting energy. He hears another grenade roll thru the pipe and land in the garbage, on the other side of the pile. Closing his eyes, Colin braces for the explosion. BOOM! A shower of garbage lands on Colin, partially covering him. Continuing to deepen his breathing, Colin hopes that he can be hidden from his enemies long enough to gather enough energy to fight back once he is discovered.

Colin has magick in his blood, and that is why he is one of the handful of people in this modern, technology-intensive world who can command the elements. Gaining magick from a trace of English Royal blood from his mother, and from his father's German "Master Race" blood, Colin was raised in America, in a society cleverly designed to suppress magick in its citizens. This is mostly accomplished thru the use of technology, which audaciously claims to improve our lives while effectively killing our spirits.