Reckless Magic (16 page)

Finally the first move was made, it
was like nothing I had ever seen happen in my life. One of the
masked men jumped forward into the air, seemingly trying to hurdle
over Talbott to reach Kiran. Although the jump at first appeared
impossible, as soon as his body was lifted off of the ground he
inexplicably transformed into a mountain lion. My mouth dropped
open and I shook my head frantically, unwilling to believe that
what I thought I saw actually happened.

To my amazement though, instead of
getting torn to shreds, Kiran met him in the air, forcing him to
the ground underneath him. They were not alone for more than a
millisecond before Talbott jumped into the wrestling match pounding
the human turned animal until he bled.

I hoped that this was the end of it,
but there were four other cloaked beings surrounding us and I had
an ominous feeling this fight was far from over. Two more of the
strange men immediately transformed into similarly dangerous
animals to assist their friend; one a bobcat, the other a leopard.
Snarling, growling and biting, they attacked Kiran and Talbott over
and over. I watched, with disbelieving eyes at a fight that seemed
doomed.

The animals ripped into their skin,
biting, clawing, tearing away pieces of flesh, but I never saw
blood. I used my heightened sense to search for the terrifying
sight of torn and bloodied flesh but could not find it. My stomach
lurched at the sight of Talbott and Kiran in a battle for their
lives, but I remained a bystander unsure of how to help.

My mind refused to process what I
could feel was reality around me. Lilly let out a battle cry of her
own, jumping into the air and turning herself into a tigress. Her
animal form maintained her petite size and the vibrant red color of
her hair, but her claws and teethe had suddenly become the most
ferocious weapons I had ever seen. She joined the fight, tearing
and biting the other animals involved. I covered my mouth with my
hand, unable to move, paralyzed by confusion.

Kiran threw the mountain lion off of
him with such an unimaginable force, the animal was thrown at least
thirty feet away. Quickly the animal once a man was back on his
feet taking three quick bounds and jumping back into the fray.
Talbott was desperate to keep the animals away from Kiran, throwing
one, and then two off of him, but they were persistent, always
returning with even more vigor.

The two remaining masked men remained
men, but were none the less dangerous. They joined the fight as
well, uprooting trees and hurling large boulders at my tiring
friends. They had yet to touch anything however, accomplishing it
all with what seemed to be just an outstretched hand.

The fight was creating a clearing of
its own in the once crowded forest. Trees and boulders were
constantly hurled at my friends, some finding their mark; some
stopped midair and dropped to the ground by a mere glance from
Kiran. The only problem was that the animals continued to attack
him, making it impossible for him to see every obstruction coming
his way. My friends were being beaten to death and I still stood
there helpless.

I swallowed the bile rising in my
throat and I couldn’t help the feeling of panic washing over me. I
had been forgotten, a simple bystander to the unreal destruction
happening all around me. My tired and outnumbered friends were
frantic to win their survival but the attacking men seem even more
bent on their demolition.

My blood was hot with electricity
surging through my veins, my heart beating wildly out of control.
My fingers and muscles twitched with the desire to join and my
senses heightened to a crystal clear state. I inhaled deeply of the
battle around me and I realized that I wasn’t helpless.

And then it dawned on me. The energy
coursing through my veins must be the same force with which these
men were using. Its very nature sharpened into a treacherous weapon
by their presence. I could feel anticipation mingled with bloodlust
as though the electricity itself were a life form. I had never felt
more empowered as the electricity I had tried to oppress for so
long rushed through my blood giving me a sense of strength I had
never experienced before.

I forced my mind to focus on the
fight, appreciating that all of my senses were already finely in
tuned. I watched as mammal ripped flesh from mammal, and masked men
perform feats of strength that should be utterly impossible. Kiran
and Talbott seemed to possess the same power that the two remaining
humans did; the landscape around us was ripped to pieces as they
tried to destroy one another.

I tested my own strength with a nearby
rock. I willed it to be lifted into the air with my mind and the
small bolder obeyed easily. I decided the course of destruction and
the rock flew through the air crashing into pieces against a small
tree. Again I tested my strength with the same tree, ripping it out
of the ground and lifting it easily into the air; its limbs and
roots hung precariously over the two standing strangers. With a
thought, I dropped the tree onto them and watched as they were
crushed beneath it. I heard the revolting crunch of bones breaking
as they were buried beneath the branches.

The men did not give up however, and
threw the tree off of their mangled bodies scrambling to their
feet, bones completely restored. My mind refused to believe what my
senses had already accepted as reality. Again I tested my strength,
electricity building with every mental movement.

Merely thinking of a basketball sized
boulder, I lifted it with my mind, the energy growing even stronger
and hurled it with all of the mental power I had at the nearest
shrouded figure. Everyone had written me off, clearly I had been
frozen by fear, but as terrifying as my new found powers were, I
was the only hope we had for victory.

The man I hit was not expecting an
attack from me, and I realized they did not comprehend where the
first tree I dropped on them had come from. I hit him directly in
the temple, causing a sickening skull-crushing thud. He lost his
balance and fell over, letting out a scream of
frustration.

For just a second Kiran had the upper
hand and brought another tree branch down on him. Momentarily he
was trapped, until the other standing figure reached out his arms
sending Kiran flying through the air in the opposite direction and
isolating him from the rest of the mêlée.

I decided to try the same effect, and
it was my turn to send the other attacker flying. I was more than
angry, I was furious. All of the energy building up inside of me
had come to an alarming climax, I let it loose on this one man,
sending him thirty feet away and head first into a thick tree. I
expected the energy to dissipate after releasing so much at one
time, but it rushed back through my blood stronger and more
powerful, sanctioning me to do more damage.

I saw the battle clearly, more clearly
than I had seen anything else in my life. It was as if I was
created specifically for that moment. The deathly encounter had
made me more alive than I have ever felt. I could no longer fight
against my ingrained electricity, but worked with it to wield the
destruction I saw all around me. The energy rushing through my body
had set me on a war path, my blood turning to an uncontrollable
fire, and I found that I was willing to fight at any cost to win
that battle.

I took a moment to assess the
situation around me. Lilly, although in the form of a tiger had her
back to the cliff wall, trapped by both the leopard and the
mountain lion. She was a capable fighter, but the two animals were
closing in on her and I knew it wouldn’t be long.

Kiran had come face to face with the
very man I had thrown and they were circling each other, both
waiting for the other to make the first move. Talbot was in a
wrestling match with the bobcat and had barely escaped his throat
being ripped out twice. It was only a matter of time.

The man I trapped underneath the tree
branch had thrown it off and was standing, ready to attack me. I
had taken this all in, in a single breath, but understood with
certainty that this fight could not last any longer. We were
outnumbered and they would not stop until each one of us was
dead.

I gathered the energy inside of me,
letting it build and build. The man who had intended to attack me
slowed to a stop and tried his attack at a distance. The
electricity in my blood became a sort of energy field around me,
blocking the attacks from the cloaked man standing only a few feet
away.

I felt myself growing stronger with
every small molecule of electricity in my veins. I took energy from
everything around me; borrowing from the trees, the ground, the
stars, the moon, the very breeze that remained soft despite our
deathly battle. I sensed myself becoming an unstoppable force. Even
my enemies couldn’t hold on to their own energy as I took it from
them and added it to my own.

My body was nearly bursting. I had
created such a force of energy, I could barely contain it. I looked
around again and saw all of my friends in imminent danger, unaware
of the oncoming storm I was about to rain down.

With controlled thoughts and
determined power, I let loose my building tempest. Every cloaked
being was sent flying through the air, all coming to rest in one
final heap on the ground. I felt their energies dissipate quickly
and their lifeless bodies move no more.

Four bodies, piled carelessly on top
of each other in the middle of our destruction were the evidence of
what I was capable of. One of the attackers however was able to
escape. He did not wait around to be certain of his friend’s fate,
but fled through the woods; his energy growing fainter and fainter
the farther away he ran.

Only one of them escaped through the
forest, only one of the five. I could sense each of his feet hit
the hard ground and his body panic from the terrifying image I had
ingrained into his mind until eventually he faded away
completely.

There was no way I could catch him
now, my body had no more strength to move. I collapsed onto the
ground, shaking in violent tremors. I lifted my head to see Kiran,
Talbott and Lilly back in her human form, were all alive. I
rejoiced silently, unable to even say anything. They stared at me
with the strangest mix of emotions on their face, all hesitating to
move.

16.

I might as well have been drained of
all life. The strength I expelled to put an end to the fighting was
more than I knew I was capable of; not to mention all of the other
crazy stuff that I didn’t know anyone was capable of. I lay on the
hard ground, barely able to lift my head, let alone my limp
limbs.

I was aware of what had just happened;
a small part of me accepted that the events that occurred were in
fact real. But the fight I partook in only moments ago felt more
like a distant memory than reality: like a dream I just woke up
from and could barely remember. The exact details of everything
were fading from my mind quickly and I wasn't sure I
cared.

“
One got away,” my voice
came out hoarse and shaky. I pointed in the direction I felt him
run in before he disappeared from the tracking device I knew was my
mind.

“
Talbott, go,” Kiran
demanded, rushing over to my side and kneeling down. He leaned in
close to my face, seemingly examining my pupils, although I had a
hard time believing he really knew what he was doing. He took my
hand into his and held it tightly in his grasp.

“
I can’t leave you. Damn it.
We should have brought the entire Guard, damn it Kiran,” Talbott
yelled. “I knew this was a bad idea. Damn it,” he repeated over and
over and started to walk in circles. “Kiran are you
alright?”

“
I’m fine,” Kiran looked
down at me concerned. He inspected me again by lifting up my arms
and head, looking for, well I didn’t really know what he was
looking for, but he eventually seemed satisfied. All the while, he
never let go of my hand.

“
Damn it Kiran, are you all
right?” Talbott shouted at him louder. I watched Talbott continue
to pace back and forth from my peripheral. I could tell that he
wanted to pursue the attacker, chase him down. I could also tell by
the way he glanced at Kiran every other second he was not going to
leave his friend alone.

“
Yes, I’m fine, I’m really
fine,” Kiran spoke louder and with confidence. I saw Talbott relax
his shoulders a little, but continue to pace. “Lilly go back to
camp and tell Mr. Lawly that we have to leave now!” Kiran demanded
of the human-again Lilly. She did not speak a word, but obediently
took off running through the forest, her bright red hair
disappearing into the darkness.

The logical part of me objected to
Lilly trying to make it back to camp by herself. The attacker could
still be out there, he could have easily circled around to our
other side to finish the job and I was too exhausted to pick him up
with my new found powers. After what just happened, somebody should
go with her, whether he was out there or not. I was too weak to
contest. I tried to verbalize my concerns, but only a moan came
out.

“
She will be fine,” Kiran
looked into my eyes intensely and I saw his passion and concern.
“Lilly can take care of herself it turns out. She will have no
problem making it back to camp.” Kiran’s voice was soothing and
calm; it felt like medicine to my fried nerves.