there was a small school for magics, with modern comforts and structure, on a floating island.
various students, alone in moments of quiet, vanished. it began right at the start of the year, when we were settling in to the place and establishing social roots. nobody was able to find a lead.

i was the only one who saw it happen. i saw it happen every time.

by unknown catalyst, these students would suddenly have some unknown magic cast on them by their own sceptre or other personal items of choice. they would be lifted helplessly in the air or driven to the ground, a look of fear or confusion on their faces, and a bright sigil, unique to each one, would slowly be drawn in the air in front of them. and then they would disappear, turning into light,.. and fly into me and be absorbed, and that was the end of them.
and they kept vanishing, and nobody knew why, including me. this hadn't happened before, and i wasn't doing anything new.

i could never predict exactly when it would happen. i would try to stop it from carrying out, or try to leave before it could be completed, but i could feel that some malevolence wanted me to be the recipient and wouldn't let me avoid it, and nothing i could do could prevent it, and my attempts amused it.

most of the time, the victims were my friends or students i knew well, because of course i was more likely to be nearby them without others around, though not always since the whole school was a well-acquainted network and everybody knew everybody.