Eidolon

“Not so overt, but you’re thinking along the right lines.  I am alive as the faerie queen, I collect the dead, I tap them for my strength, to better shepherd them.  You are the High Priest of the stillborn faerie, but you could tap the living for strength.”

___

The living.

There weren’t many.  Four that had been left behind, for whatever reason.

He used hydrokinesis to bring them closer.

The tendrils connected to the images surrounding them, abstract ideas, as though the agents had no identity or concept of their own beyond the memories they stored.

He felt his power grow, hurried to allow new powers to fall into place so he could fill them with reserves, tap them for energy.  Tendrils connecting agents here and elsewhere.

They’d lose their abilities, be rendered weaker.  They were dying anyways.

New powers fell quickly into place.  They reached a greater capacity in less time.

Still standing at the edge of the ruined platform, Eidolon’s took in a deep breath for what felt like the first time in a decade.  A weight had fallen from his shoulders.

___

Nearly as strong as I was in the beginning.

He nearly felt like himself.
___

He joined the fray, supporting Glaistig Uaine as she took to the air, flying through the crowd to access the wounded and dying.

I could see Eidolon’s shadow briefly take hold of the injured, then toss them aside.  Glaistig Uaine, for her part, accessed the dead.