Mordankell clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth as he forced himself to keep drawing from the sShade. Either his senses had increased in speed, or the world had slowed. With vivid clarity, he seemed able to watch every motion around the clearing without taking his focus off of the dwindling Shade. There was little left of the dark void of power now, and he grinned with a mad, victorious gleam in his eyes. Nothing could stop him now...<br/><br/>He registered the fact that his party had been joined by another with little interest. The Ice Demon,  and the feline twin met their ends, which would normally have caused him to chuckle.  Destruction was always entertaining to him. But at that moment, he was rather distracted.<br/><br/>Charging forward a couple paces, Mordankell plunged his fist deep into the void. The shadowy form of the Shade seemed to disperse quickly, melting away, not into the air, but into Mordankell. When at last the Shade had disappeared, Mordankell closed his eyes, lowered his head, and drew in a deep, slow breath. Exhaling, he sighed with an exhilarated enthusiasm. His eyes opened to reveal irises of utter blackness.<br/><br/>His first act was to seize ahold of the dwindling, pathetic control the Shade had held over the Nightmare. At once, he spoke in a dark, demonic tongue. His words would be lost on all present, but his meaning was clear. He ordered the Nightmare to stop, using far more authority than the Shade had. The transference would likely shatter the spell that bound the former knight, freeing him again, but he cared little. He could kill such a pathetic, pitiful monstrosity with ease. As if to make his point, he cast a bolt of shadow at the Nightmare so potent that any mortal man would have been blown to oblivion, not bothering to look and see if his orb met its mark. His aim was always true... he had no reason to doubt it.<br/><br/>A deep chuckle emanated from his chest as he turned on the spot, taking in the destruction around the clearing. A fire demon lay, ruined, on the ground. Two feline beasts had also been slain. All that was left was a stone golem of some kind. Pitiful opponents for one so great... but he would have to make do with what he had. The Golem immediately stopped any attack it had been making, eyes that reflected an absolute lack of intelligence swung to the Shade, coming to rest for only a moment before it fled into the forest.<br/><br/>His only remaining opponents seemed ignorant of their immediate fate and he frowned with disappointment. He would find much more joy in their deaths if they would at least attempt to defend themselves... Deciding that he deserved to endulge himself after so many years of depriving his true nature, Mordankell grinned at them. His hand raised, an orb of shadow already forming in his palm. Then the hand froze. He looked down at it in complete amazement and fury. Why was his body disobeying his command? He glared at his own hand and tried again to cast the bolt. The voice of the mortal, sorry excuse for a warlock that had once controlled his body spoke within his mind. He heard the voice issue from his own lips and felt a fury rise within him.<br/><br/>â€œYou will...NOTâ€ said the voice of the true Mordankell, through gritted teeth, â€œHarm my friends... so long as there is life in me.â€<br/><br/>The fury that swelled within him seemed divided into two equal portions. Half of his soul fought desperately to force the other into submission, seeking to stop the acts of destruction he would surely commit. The other half sought to either obliterate the first, or at least to dominate it. So intense was the battle that Mordankell's body began to writhe. Foam formed at the corners of his mouth. Every muscle in his body expanded and contracted rapidly. He sank to his knees, eyes rolling back in his head, then fell sideways, body still writhing. After a long moment of intense agony, the body of Mordankell collapsed, limp, to the forest floor. The only movement was now his steady, calm breathing. His eyes remained open, staring without expression at the canopy of leaves above him. The color of his irises continue to shift groggily from black to blue and back again as he stared.<br/><br/>((I hearby offer leadership of the group to any who want it. A decision must be made. Will Mordankell have to be defeated or killed to protect the rest? Or will the party wait for further developments? Will the adventurers continue on in search of the cave or turn back and flee to safety? The choice is yours to decide as a group. Choose wisely.))