There was a light hum in the air as the cloud of blue dust turned green and backed away. Several moments passed before the mass approached him again. Having somewhat startled himself with his unorthodox exhibit of aggression, Demmy was surprised to see the being near him once more.

His surprise at the cloud’s boldness could not have, however, matched his surprise at what came next. A human hand reached out from within the dust and grabbed his wrist. He jerked his arm from the creature but couldn’t free himself before he felt a searing pain in his upper arm.

Pain inspired a reaction in Demmy similar to but greater in magnitude than that inspired by surprise. He drew his hand back and shot a jet of methane towards the cloud. With a single, psychically induced spark, the methane erupted into a ball of flame and collided with the creature.

The fireball seemed to have little effect on the unearthly aggressor. Demmy took several steps back from the green entity and continued to look on in disbelief. Small pieces of the cloud fell from its entirety, alight with his flame, but the fire quickly subsided.

“What are you?”

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