Evariste Wolvord

Once Evariste heard someone explain the process of reading fiction as suspending disbelief. It seemed like a pretty accurate description of what he did while reading, but he had always thought it stopped there. He never would have expected the pithy explanation to apply to his actual experiences, but suspended disbelief was definitely his state of mind as he dodged his assailant's next attack. The whole experience started to feel like an extremely immersive and realistic story.

Evariste was not expecting the figure to zoom suddenly towards him as fast as it did, but he was prepared now for the more-reasonable swipe the other thing took at his chest. Ev did not stick around to get a good look, but as he dropped out of range of the figure's arm, he thought he saw something sharp in the thing's hand. He wasn't sure, though, because it was dark, not glinting as metal should.

Responding to his directives, gravity increased its hold on Ev, speeding his drop into a crouch. As fast as the attacker was moving, the downward force on Ev was enough to save him from that strike. His ordinary reaction time combined with his ordinary muscles would not have been enough to dodge, that was for sure. Adjusting the gravitational field gave him the burst of speed necessary to get out of the way, though.

As he hurtled to a crouch, Evariste was able to steal a glance at the form in front of him. His impression was blurred and partially obscured by his own eyelashes, but Ev was able to resolve it somewhat as he relaxed gravity to slow his fall. The person—and it did look like a person—was, Ev thought, male. He seemed to hold himself with a conscious energy that was very different from a Walker, despite his lack of aura. Based on his fleeting impression of his opponent, Evariste would have thought his ability to sense auras had simply ceased to exist except that he could still see his own aura.

There was no time for reflection, though, as Evariste sharply adjusted gravity again, this time considerably lessening its hold on him. Much freer, Ev easily shifted his trajectory from straight down to down and forward, using his momentum to carry him towards his opponent in one smooth motion. Splitting his focus was difficult, but he also managed to put a harder gravitational hold on the person in front of him. It was not strong, and it would not last long, but for the next few seconds, the thing's motions would require much more effort. And when Evariste flipped the field in the other direction, he should be able to easily knock the guy off his feet.

In the meantime, Evariste was lunging towards its knees. He needed to time his manipulation of gravity just right to get the full effect, but if he pulled it off properly, he could send his foe flying. Sweeping the thing's leg out from under it should make it overbalance neatly. It would soar backwards, not weighted by gravity. Then Ev could yank it down to earth again, and hard.

__________________