“Take your time,” he says. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
James chuckles and gives him a grin. Closing his eyes, he again reaches his senses out to the storm clouds above. Using his magic, he tries to hold back the lightning from striking while at the same time causing the opposite polarity to increase at the void.
As the polarity increases, James can feel the static charge in the clouds fighting to form and strike. Finally unable to hold it off any longer, he lets it go.
Flash! Boom!
A mammoth explosion knocks Jiron and Brother Willim off their feet as the lightning strikes the void.
Sending his senses to the void, he sees that it has shrunk to half its original size while the pulses were nullified. Then, just as before, the pulses resume and it is again pushed back to its former size.
“Almost had it that time,” he says. Opening his eyes, he glances to where Jiron is returning to his feet. “You better stay down there,” he tells them. “The next time could be a little rocky.”
Seeing the warning in his eyes, Jiron nods and takes a seat next to Brother Willim. “Rocky he says,” Jiron mumbles to Brother Willim.
Ignoring them, James again closes his eyes and sends his senses up to the clouds. Working the same as before, he holds back the lightning for as long as he can then lets it go.
Flash! Boom!
Again the ground rolls from the impact. Not waiting to see what happens, he again begins to form the polarity to attract the lightning.
Flash! Boom!
Then again.
Flash! Boom!
Then one more time.
Flash! Boom!
Though deafened by the blasts, he sends his senses to the void and finds it all but closed. Then, the pulses once again begin to come and start pushing the void back. What is it going to take?
Flash! Boom! Flash! Boom! Flash! Boom! Flash! Boom!
Four more times he causes the lightning to strike the void in an attempt to keep the pulses from rematerializing and pushing the void wider. On the fourth strike, a spasming ripple runs through the grayness as the void finally closes.
Chapter Ten
Zyrn stands there in awe as the crack of thunder rolls over them from the massive bolt of lightning. There had been two lesser strikes before that one but neither had come close to the power of that last one.
“Such power,” says Bokka. Several of the other villagers with him nod in agreement.
They hold their breath for a moment longer before another two bolts flash from the clouds and strike the ground with massive cracks of thunder. Then a few seconds later, three more bolts arc from the clouds to strike the ground. The grayness begins to rapidly draw back toward the area where the lightning is striking, already it’s past the lines of swords Zyrn had set in the ground over the last few days.
“What’s it doing?” asks one of the villagers.
Shaking his head, Zyrn says, “I don’t know.”
Then four bolts strike from the clouds. This time, a spasming ripple courses from one side of the grayness to the other then back again. “That hurt it,” one villager says in satisfaction.
“Yes, but it isn’t gone yet,” observes Zyrn.
“It’s still there,” Jiron says.
“I can see that,” replies James a bit testily. He was sure that when the void closed, the grayness would die. But it still covers the barrier and he can detect minor pulses running through it. There is no longer a set point from which the pulses are now originating, rather they come from all over.
“It must be like a giant amoeba,” states James. When he sees the question about to be asked, he continues. “An amoeba is a single celled organism. As such, it could split off from its host and still survive.”
“Right,” nods Jiron still totally lost.
James sighs and shakes his head. What he wouldn’t give for someone to understand him. Most of the time when he tries to explain things all he gets is that lost look that says they have no idea what he’s talking about. Trying to make it so they can at least understand it a little he says, “In the broadest sense, consider it a worm.”
“Ah!” says Brother Willim. “I understand. Cut off from the main body, it still survives.”
“Something like that,” nods James. Moving to the edge of the barrier, he peers closely at the grayness. “Come here and look at it more closely,” he says, waving them over.
When Brother Willim and Jiron come over, Jiron says, “It seems to have the texture of sand.”
“Yes, it does,” agrees James. “When it came through, the first thing it must have come into contact with was the gray sand that remained after the explosion. And for whatever reason it took on that aspect.” He sees them not entirely following. “Ever heard of a chameleon? It’s a lizard that is able to change its color to match that of whatever environment it’s in.”
“Not by that name,” replies Brother Willim. “But there is this bug over in Cardri that they say does the same thing though I’ve never actually seen it.”
“Maybe this creature,” he says as he taps the side of the barrier, “lives on another plane, between the planes, whatever and when it moves to another takes on the aspects of that plane to better blend in and survive.”
Brother Willim nods, “I follow you.”
“That’s all well and good,” states Jiron, “but we are still faced with the problem of what to do with this ‘amoeba’ I think you called it.”
“You’re right of course,” he says as he moves back away from the barrier. He allows the winds and clouds to begin moving on their own, the strain of holding them was beginning to be too much to maintain.
Lightning is out. Though it did affect it, it didn’t do so to any great degree. Fire? Possibly but he’ll need a nearby source from which to draw upon and a tremendous amount of power.
“Wish Miko was here with us,” he abruptly states.
“What?” asks Brother Willim.
“Oh, just thinking the power of the Star would come in handy right about now,” he explains.
“You have an idea?” Jiron asks.
Nodding, he says, “Yes I do.” Pulling out his mirror, he glances to them and says, “First though, I need to send a message.”
Miko and the others have been keeping a constant eye on the grayness ever since the lightning bolts stopped and the cloud cover began to dissipate. They expected the grayness to die, go away, or something. But it remaining unchanged seemed to not bode well for James and the others.
“Could it have beaten them?” asks Scar.
“Would you shut up!” roars Stig. “It did not beat them.” He moves over to where Aleya is off by herself. “I’m sure they’re all right,” he tells them.
Looking up at him with a tear in her eye, she says, “I hope so. After losing everyone when the Empire took my home, I was afraid to latch onto someone else. I feared going through that again.”
He puts his arm comfortingly around her shoulders. She gives him a short laugh and says, “And look who I decided to latch onto. A man who always seems to be in the middle of whatever is going on, most of it life threatening. I must be out of my mind.”
“Jiron’s a good man,” assures Stig. “I know he cares for you. Besides, your heart will love who your heart will love. There’s not much you can do about it.”
“I suppose not,” she agrees.
“He and James have been in worse situations before and always managed to get out of them,” he says. “So
