Distance

"Greeting traveler" the man resting on the side of this muddy wreck that we take for a road, I only responded with a nod, being courteous but at the same time showing no interest in small talk, so as I passed him and went on my way towards town he rose from his place and started to follow. What a fool he was if he believed he would gain anything by this attempt at being annoying.

I turned after a few moments of this and unleashed a bolt of corruption that crept trough the air as quickly wanting to turn him into a puddle of muck that would go incredibly well with the mud and muck ridden road, but as it neared him he just stood there with his palm stretched in front of him, small arcs of azure energy jumped from fingertip to finger tip and when my spell hit its hand a small vortex appeared on his palm absorbing all of the corrupting energy and neutralized the effect entirely.

I stood dumbfounded one of my quickest and powerful death spells had been countered so easily and I knew that after this I could advance no more and neither could I approach this mysterious man. The distance had been locked and my destiny sealed.