Something thudded in the crystal stillness, something muffled and inaudible due to the dullness of the echo. It came from a distance, as if someone was trying to reach him; and then Solomon realised that someone might be. If that had been Raine--what had she done? She couldn't attack death.

Talking. She must have said something, and Solomon hadn't heard it, as if he was in a completely different place.

With a start he realised he was, that the faint drag on the edges of his awareness wasn't just the mana trying to be used, but the vibration of a circle that wanted to spread. It was slower, so much slower that he hadn't noticed the difference until now, but it was the same drag that had sucked him into the death-plane when he'd been fighting Bakura.

Most certainly not something he wanted to experience again. It was just that--he wasn't sure how to turn the bubble off. It took a minute, and he had to breathe evenly to stop the unreasoning fear from taking over; but then he managed to soften his urgency and woo the life back into the bubble, and release the mana he'd taken. The bubble collapsed and the foliage grew healthy again; the animals picked themselves up, a little confused or startled, as if coming out of a sudden deep sleep.

Solomon's head pounded suddenly and he put a hand to his forehead, and staggered in the dizziness of cold order being replaced by warm chaos.