The man was running frantically.
Not conserving his strength, nor using magic to erase traces of his movements as he had been trained to do. As the term suggests, running aimlessly, simply to get away from the nightmarish presence behind him.
Those things were nothing short but nightmares.
Morphologically more uncertain than molluscs, they toyed with any living being they touched, pulling them into their bodies to fuse together. Neither stabbings nor freezing could kill them; they returned after a while, sneakier and more cunning than before.