She drew mana like a smoking scent—dark, concentrated magic coiling at her fingertips until it looked like shadows wrapped in glass. Han released it in a single, jagged burst aimed straight at the ogre. The blast hit the creature's bulk with enough force to have split a lesser thing in two. Yet the ogre barely stirred—the skin took the blow as if it were a light breeze. No mark, no smoke, nothing. I felt Han's power recoil against something implacable.
"Grr…" The sound crawled up from the beast's throat as it rolled, shifting its massive weight. Its eyes opened—pale and slow at first, then suddenly sharp, focusing on Han before moving to rest on me.
The air changed. It was like walking into a room that had suddenly lost half its oxygen; breathing felt slightly harder, as if her presence compressed the space around us.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" The creature's roar exploded, a raw, animal sound that rattled the metal and set dust motes spinning in the shaft of light.
