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 seemed 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 performed feats of strength that should have been 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 came 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 made me more alive than I had 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 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 the 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 threw and they were circling each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Talbott 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 took 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 ingrained into his mind until eventually he faded away completely.