Icarus Awakens

It had only been for an instant, but he knew what he’d seen. Daniel had his back to the tree again, opposite from the lightning. Then he reconsidered. Weren’t you supposed to avoid trees during a lightning storm? Did that matter when he was inside the stormhead? Moving away from the tree meant moving closer to the edge, a tricky prospect with his vision restricted. He was glad he’d piled up the sticks at least, fewer things to trip over.

Another flash of lightning in the distance, looking more like an orb as the fog diffused the light. Still purple, which piqued Daniel’s curiosity. He’d always thought of lightning as blue or yellow. Purple lightning was more in the realm of magic than a natural occurrence. Like floating islands.

Another flash. It was getting closer. The calm wind had completely died. The only sound was Daniel’s rapid breathing. Magic lightning? Then there was the ominous sense he’d had of the cloud, had he intuited it somehow? Another flash, now it looked more like the traditional lightning shape. Fuzzy, but a distinct line.

Two questions made Daniel grasp for one of the larger branches on the ground. Why was the lightning only getting closer, and why were shapes flitting around it? He’d seen them after the latest flash, something fast was flying in front of the lightning arcs. Daniel and the tree faced whatever lurked in the fog back to trunk. His chosen weapon was gripped like a bat despite its length making it unwieldy. Fear was back in full force. Trapped on an island was one thing. Trapped on an island with a lightning monster stalking him was something else.

The first hint of what he was facing manifested as a sensation across his leg. It was like a fish had brushed it while he was swimming with all the unpleasantness that entailed. A flailing swing caught only the ground leaving him off balance. It also put him just under a line of lightning that charred the wood behind him.

Shapes were darting at the edges of his vision. Fast, but not so fast that he only lost sight of them as they dipped back into the fog. It was a swarm of something small. No larger than a bird, though that category included albatrosses. Daniel felt something brush against him again and instinctively dodged. A cry of pain left his lips as his second attempt was less successful and the arc of lightning touched his arm. Rather than scream, Daniel's body locked as the electricity coursed through him. He recovered almost immediately, but the arm itself was taking longer to wake. If it had hit his dominant arm he may have dropped his weapon.

“Bad.” Daniel could only grunt. He was in more pain than he’d ever experienced. He should have passed out from it, he’d expected to. Instead, he focused and found the gears of his mind still turning efficiently. They’re shooting me with lightning? he thought. What the actual hell? A shape darted towards him and he swung out, managing to catch it despite his injured arm. It had approached from his front instead of the side, giving him more time to react.

Lightning suddenly struck the creature as it was knocked away. Daniel was aghast as what looked like a cross between a butterfly and a carnivorous fish was wreathed in purple light. He was even more surprised when it ducked below the island and out of sight, no worse for wear.

It was starting to make a strange sense, as long as Daniel discarded his notions of how the world should work. They’re shooting themselves with lightning and trying to catch me in between, he mentally corrected. But also trying to make contact with me first? Why? Daniel was out in the middle of the island. If these creatures arced lightning between them, they could hover along the edge and spam it until he was done.

Then he remembered the tree. It wasn’t in the dead center of the island, but close enough. The first blast had been wholly arrested by the trunk that now bore the scar proudly. They can’t. They have to get close. He’d just finished the thought when he saw one coming from the right. He swung out at the creature and made another connection. His left arm was recovering but not at full strength, and the demonic fish-butterfly survived the hit. Something else slipped past his waist. The flock had begun adapting their tactics.

A set of small, sharp teeth met Daniel’s gaze as the enemy glided up to the level of his head. The intent behind the movement was obvious. Light ringed the creature as his eyes focused fully on it. Time slowed as Daniel waited for the inevitable blast of lightning that would either kill him outright or leave him defenseless to further attacks.

Nothing happened. It was then Daniel noticed something different about the light surrounding the flying piranha; it was red. It wasn’t just that, the light was cleanly outlining the creature. The fog should have been making it at least hazy even at this close distance. He tried to look around him, only to find he couldn’t move his head. Words also formed from the same red light in mid-air, directly above the creature.

Sparkbat Swarm - (1)

Based on everything happening, the only guess Daniel could make was that time had stopped. He would have returned to his earlier theories of this all being elaborate stagecraft if that and everything else happening wasn’t blatantly impossible. And sparkbat? The hell this thing is a bat. The thing in front of him had a cylindrical body that reminded him of an eel. Spines the same vibrant purple of the lightning shot off perpendicularly from the main body with nearly translucent webbing between them to form a set of fin-like wings. The only other features he could make out were a set of sharp teeth and a flap of skin off the top of the head that looked like a broad antenna.

As a purple glow started to overlap with the red outline, it became clear time was gearing back up. The swarm had targeted his head this time and used a decoy to distract him. Their numbers, range, and adaptation would grind down what little defense he had if he didn’t start chipping away at those advantages.

In an instant, the world was moving again. Instead of dodging, Daniel brought his branch down hard on the sparkbat and slammed it into the ground. Lightning arced from it to somewhere behind him, passing through his legs instead of his head. Its body lay broken before him. It seemed like a solid hit was all he needed.

The change of the battle’s pace was night and day, even if the darkness and the fog still clouded his vision. Daniel didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d bought himself enough time to think about his situation. More so, every other creature in the swarm now had a red outline he could track through the fog. The sparkbats’ ability to dart in and out of his vision had been one of their trump cards. Another fell as it attempted to sneak around the tree, unaware he could see it not only through the fog but solid wood.

Daniel’s branch was beginning to crack from the repeated heavy strikes. His head was twitching side to side as he desperately tried to keep track of each creature. Their flight wasn’t as erratic as he’d first thought. It was more of an amicably paced glide until one moved in for the kill and they rapidly descended towards him. There were a dozen now, which was still enough to keep him guessing. Another two sparkbats, and his branch, were destroyed before Daniel made a mistake. The red figures dancing around him had drawn his attention. Worse, he’d grown arrogant. He thought he’d figured them out, solved the pattern, when from out of nowhere a shot of lightning hit him square in the chest.

Nothing had been behind him. He knew nothing had been behind him. Daniel collapsed as his body seized up and he saw his downfall. The body of one of the grounded creatures was faintly glowing with spent energy. Of course. I’m an idiot. It seemed the swarm’s fallen could still serve as tethers for the lightning. Had they baited him into the right position, or did they simply wait until he’d moved there himself?

All at once the remaining sparkbats descended on him. 10 points of pain seared out as their teeth tore into him. I should already be dead. Daniel was reeling from the blast. Even so, he knew he shouldn’t have been able to take a shot of lightning to the chest and live. One of his hands twitched with the fading electricity before suddenly reaching out for the sparkbat digging into his neck. He felt his hand, unbidden by him, crush the creature.

“Ah, aaaAA!” Daniel screamed as his voice returned to him. There was no time to think about his alien hand syndrome. He was being eaten alive. He made his second mistake then, trying to roll the sparkbats off like he was on fire. The wild motion threw him first into the battered tree before bouncing him in the opposite direction. He’d already fallen off the edge before the thought of stopping occurred to him.