Breath of Divinity

It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. It was almost impossible to describe; the closest Tim could come to a depiction of what he was feeling was like a literal bolt of lightning was coursing through his body, but not in a bad way. Every cell in his body felt like it had been galvanized, bursting with energy. He was moving so fast that he could feel gusts of wind encircling his body, like his own personal forcefield.

It wasn’t like the last time, when the world had seemed to slow down around him. Everything else was moving at normal speeds, the only difference being himself, and the way his hands and feet passed in and out of focus, a blur of pale skin.

His reflexes too had increased exponentially, allowing him to weave out of the way of incoming objects with almost expert precision — almost. It wasn’t a completely smooth ride. He was still having difficulty maneuvering, and more often than not ended up planting himself face-first into a nearby tree, wall or similarly solid object. The third time this happened he was repelled so fiercely that he felt his nose shatter on impact. Pain radiated all over his face, and blood was seeping from his nostrils. He sat up, touching his nose gingerly.

“Ow!” Even though he could already feel it healing, realigning the broken septum on his face, it still hurt. Tim picked himself, dusted off his jeans, and straightened the glasses on his face again. It was still remarkably inconvenient having to wear the very thing that was dampening his powers, but he still needed his glasses to see.

He prepared himself for takeoff once more and rushed off. Sytris had been right. There was nothing to do, really. It was like his body had been supercharged, and it felt so natural, so right, as if his body had secretly been yearning to break free from its mundane limits for ages and was rejoicing in its wish finally being granted.

Still, this was clearly going to take some getting used to. An uncomfortable heat was building up inside him the longer he ran, and at one point it all came to a screeching halt, as if a switch had been flipped inside him. There was no wind, no heat. He had reverted to normal speed. Tim grunted in anger. It seemed consistency wasn’t his friend today. He ran around in circles several times, digging his heels into the ground as he tried to ignite the speed once more, but the only thing he accomplished was gaining a disturbed look from two passersby who clearly thought he was mentally unsound. He returned a small, awkward smile and wave which probably only exacerbated their worries, judging by the way they began to walk even faster. Tim waited until they had vanished from sight before trying again.

This time he succeeded, launching himself into the world like a bullet.

The first place he searched was a rather large and poorly kept neighbourhood that seemed to foster more weeds than people. Every street was lined with a number of people who were either engaged in some kind of sport or gossiping excitedly.

This definitely didn’t seem like the kind of place they would have come to. He tried to do what Sytris had advised, focusing on picking up some kind of signal from either Jon’s ring or Oscar’s necklace, but he got nothing. They weren’t here. Ensuring that no one’s eyes were on him, he turned and raced off down the street; a cat hissed as he sped by, back arched and fur bristling.

How long he ran he didn’t know. Perhaps it had been an hour, or maybe even just a few minutes since he had left the mansion behind, but he noticed that as hard as he was running he felt no indication of being tired. Perhaps he had superhuman stamina as well?

Tim had scoured almost two whole cities before coming to a halt. His search had been fruitless so far, but now he felt a faint tingling sensation on the bridge of his nose. It was an odd feeling, as if the glasses were undecided about whether they wanted to be hot or cold and had simply decided to stop somewhere in between. As he looked around he noticed that he had come to a halt outside of a small pub, where a neon sign had been hung in front of the building with an outstretched arm holding a large jug of beer. The smell of burning leather met his nostrils and he looked down.

His confusion morphed at once into horror as he noticed the source of smoke: his shoes.

The entire lower layer had been burned off, leaving only the upper covering and an empty sole, exposing his bare, rather dirty feet.

“Those were my favourite sneakers,” he said, disappointed. He kicked the shoes — or what was left of them — off, deciding at this point that it was no different from going barefoot, and decided to send a text to his parents informing them of his so-far fruitless journey, when another peculiar sensation caused him to pause.

A wave of ice cold ran down his back, as if someone had poured a tub of freezing water under his shirt. It was so cold in fact that without thinking he actually clutched at his back, and a hiss of pain escaped him. At the same time an arc of green-and-white lighting crackled through the sky, followed by a rumble of thunder in the distance. An ominous sense of foreboding descended upon him.

Tim wasn’t superstitious by any means, but if this wasn’t a sign to leave he didn’t know what was. He turned tail and ran, so fast that he actually cracked the concrete underneath his feet as he took off.

As the gigantic serpent reared from the water, Oscar suddenly found himself moving with a speed that he had never known he was capable of. He waved his hands as it hissed in fury; purple energy sparked from his fingertips, conjuring another illusion as its huge, lithe body came lunging down at them. It crashed into the shoreline as Oscar leapt aside, and he saw Jonathan’s eyes widen in horror as the snake dived back into the water, carrying with it the false vision of Oscar, then he let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Oscar seized him roughly by the shoulder and clamped his hand over his mouth. The snake could be fooled by illusions, but it could still hear.

“Shh! It’s an illusion, I’m right here!”

Jon, still completely out of it from the laughing gas, took a very long moment before he understood what was going on.

“But I just saw — you went — the snake —” he whispered anxiously, then comprehension dawned in his eyes. “Ohhh! Right, god of intrusions!”

“Illusions,” Oscar corrected, then seeing that he still had a completely blank look on his face he said, “Never mind, it’s going to realize soon that it’s not really drowning anything down there, so we have to —”

The snake resurfaced with a screech of rage, terrible enough to chill blood. It had risen even higher than it had when it first appeared, and now it looked even deadlier, its gigantic, razor-sharp scales glinting cruelly in the evening sunlight, baring rows upon rows of teeth that each looked as long as a baseball bat. Oscar had to give it some credit: it was smarter than most humans. On average it took them at least ten minutes to realize what was going on.

Jon tensed beside him. He was in no condition to fight like this and Oscar had no idea when or how he would return to normal. Oscar ripped the necklace from around his throat and thrust Jon roughly aside.

“Take shelter behind the trees!” he shouted. As Jon began to stumble away, he turned his attention back to the incensed creature.

“Nokk,” he said aloud, and the necklace became engulfed in a piercing violet light. The sudden illumination seemed to give the creature pause, as if it had become wary of what the light signified. Then the light died down, and Oscar was left wearing a large bronze gauntlet that stretched from his fingertips to the base of his elbow.

The base of the gauntlet was studded with numerous multicoloured gems, and the knuckles had several holes along them, each about as wide as his fingers.

The snake let out a wicked, warbling shriek and its immense body came plunging towards him again. The entire section of the beach he was standing on fell into darkness. It was as if the whole ocean itself was bearing down upon him. As its head, more draconic than snakelike, came striking down once more, Oscar reared back his left fist and threw a punch. To someone like Jon it would have looked like a futile effort (and judging by the expression on his face as he poked his head out from behind the trees, he certainly thought it was), but as his fist connected with the serpent’s head there was a resounding, sickening crunch, followed immediately by a blast as if a bomb had exploded, and it shrieked again in agony as its head was swatted backwards like a tennis ball.

The creature looked disoriented for a mere moment, then it came zipping back. Oscar raised his arm once more, conjuring yet another illusion, and this time it worked. A large fishing boat sprouted on the surface of the water, which served the purpose of catching its attention at the last moment. Oscar seized the opportunity, balling his fist again. This time, several long, golden, clawlike protrusions emerged from the holes along the knuckles and he jammed his fist into the creature’s hide, twisted, and yanked it out.

The blades cleaved into its trunk, rending off a piece of its bright blue flesh. The creature was trembling with rage, its body thrashing the water wildly.

Oscar materialized another illusion, one of himself taunting the creature, but this time it wasn’t deterred. Faster than he could even processed it lashed out. With a crack like a whip Oscar was thrown backwards into the sand. Blood was oozing from his shirt where one of the scales had ripped through his shirt.

The pain was like fire inside his veins. He felt lightheaded. Those scales were clearly used for more than just cutting; it was like they were tipped with some kind of toxin, slowing down his movements.

Twenty feet away, Jon was taking cover behind the trees, peeking out at the scene through his fingers. Oscar had gotten hit, but it was definitely an illusion right? Only… It didn’t seem to be. He couldn’t tell anymore. His brain was completely fogged up. He felt useless, as if he should have known, as if he should have been able to help, but he just couldn’t. Whether it was because the laughing gas was affecting him in an abnormal manner, or because he was naturally incapable, but it seemed all he could do was sit by while the ones he cared for died. Unable to do anything but watch, helpless….

And unbidden in his mind, but clearer than anything he had witnessed in the last couple minutes, rose an image of his mother on the hospital bed she had spent her last hours on.

She was dressed in that depressing blue gown, with a bunch of wires and tubes strewn all across her body, like some kind of science experiment. He remembered the smell of the sterile air, the sounds of the different equipment beeping and humming as it tried — and failed — to keep her alive. Then (tears were now rushing down his face) the aggressive flatlining of the monitor as she began to code.

On the other side of the trees, Oscar tried to fight the creature off, but he had known for a very long time that he was ill adapted to this kind of battle. He didn’t have any special powers, no strength, no speed, nothing.

Trickery was his only forte, and this creature seemed determined to see right through it. It clamped its teeth down onto his leg and he screamed, pain shooting from his ankle through his entire body in an instant. It was drawing him back into the water, clearly intending to drown him, but then —

A burst of brilliant orange light flared across his vision. It was so bright, so fierce, that he had to shut his eyes, but even his eyelids were powerless against the sudden glare. It burned through his eyelids, forcing him to bury his face into the sand for some kind of reprieve. Behind him the snake shrieked again, but this time there was no anger in its warbling. This was pure, unbridled agony. The sound seemed to go on forever, sending shivers down his spine as if the pain was something physical, crawling down his back like some kind of many-legged creature.

Something was burning. He could hear it sizzling, he could smell the creature’s very flesh melting off. It released him at last and he looked around, blinking spots out of his eyes.

The creature was thrashing again; a pillar of concentrated light was pouring over it. Oscar could see its magnificent, patterned hide dissolving under the intense heat. The serpent fell heavily into the water, sending up huge waves that sloshed over the beach. The gargling shriek of anguish died down, and then everything fell still. Oscar looked around, simultaneously amazed and horrified.

And there was Jon. The same orange light that had been pouring over the snake was emanating from his body, undulating like jets of steam, his eyes glowing like miniature suns. He was like a walking supernova.

Oscar let out a weak laugh, a laugh of pride and wonder. “You did it,” he wheezed. “You did it…”

And then he fainted.

“Come on… wake up…”

“Just one more minute.”

“Oscar, get up.”

He could feel someone shaking him, but he didn’t want to get up, he was too comfortable.

“Oscar!”

“But I don’t wanna go to school…”

A sharp pain suddenly seared through his face and Oscar leapt up, eyes prickling. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You wouldn’t wake up,” Jon said with a shrug. His demeanor, his expression, even his tone of voice were all different. They were no longer dreamy and unconcerned, but cool, focused.

“So the laughing gas finally wore off?” Oscar said, peering at him shrewdly.

“Pretty much.”

Oscar looked around. He might have thought he’d dreamed the whole thing if not for the ruins of the beach remaining as evidence of their epic battle. The sea snake was nowhere to be seen. “How long was I out for?”

“A few minutes.” Jon held out a hand and helped him to his feet.

“That was some light show,” said Oscar. “How’d you pull it off?”

Jon hesitated, then a look of resolve briefly flitted across his face. “I don’t know. Way too often I’ve just had to sit there while the people I care about got hurt, and I guess I didn’t want to experience that kind of helplessness again. It was like some switch just flipped.”

“Well thank God it did. I don’t think Mr. Scales down there is going to be bothering anyone for a long time.”

“Even so, with my luck he’s probably down there trying to get reinforcements. We should get out of here before it comes back for Round 2.”

As the duo turned towards the path where they had emerged from, another sound crossed the air. It was someone screaming. They had barely begun to search for the source of the noise when it actually came zooming into view. A bluish blur that sped across the sand so fast that it left black streaks through the brown. Then it veered towards the water and landed with an almighty crash, causing another huge eruption of water.

They exchanged a brief look, then came to a wordless agreement. Both of them rushed over to the water.

There they met Tim, who was coughing up water. Each of them seized an arm and helped to return him to his feet, both of which were completely bare, Oscar noticed.

“Still getting the hang of that,” Tim said, looking embarrassed.

“We can see that,” Jon said, with a hint of his usual sarcasm. “Did they send you out to find us?”

“Yes, they did, and they are very worried. What are you two even doing out here?”

“Vision quest,” Oscar said, with a serene smile. Tim stared at him, then at Jonathan, as if asking, “Is he serious?”

Jon shook his head. “What he means is —”

“You can save the explanation for later. We have to go. Now.”

“Why? What happened?”

Tim looked at them, his bright brown eyes widened in terror. “I think something was following me.”