A Storm in Time (By: evan..relic)

[Erika]

CRACK! The lightning flashed and hit the ground all around me, all in a perfect circle. I had undermined Mother Nature's own control, and now it was mine.

Each flash brought down the heat of a thousand light bulbs at once, each flash imprinted in my mind firmly. The torrential rain soaked my long coat and robes through long ago, but I did not feel the icy rain's jaws tear through my skin, all I felt was warmth.

I continued to bellow the incantation into the billowing sky; I had turned myself from mere mortal into a powerful sorcerer. My scarred face twitched, now I truly felt the real power. At the tips of my fingers I could feel the pure, angry energy of the lightning as they acted as lightning rods, continuously absorbing the power without stop.

My intentions were to collect enough energy to displace time, itself. To fix the problem that had forced me down this path. The death of someone I had loved dearly.

Slowly, the space around me, on that hill, began to lose its definition. I continued to chant; unaware that I was becoming unconscious, but aware of the fact that I was succeeding where others have fallen. Still I chanted through the thick folds of my mind, intent on rewriting history itself.


15 years earlier

Walking down that road had never been more blissful, side by side with my beautiful girlfriend. Long brown locks, a set of eyes you'd swear even after you're dying day that you saw the answer to life itself within those deep sapphire oceans, a model's body though not ridiculously thin; she was perfect, least to my eyes.

Suddenly a storm exploded into the sky, the third this week. Before the rain had a chance to hit solid ground, I had a large enough umbrella in my hand to shield four. Truth is while I looked good, I held a secret ability, I was a corprealmancer; I could manipulate matter down to the smallest ingredients, energy.

And that is exactly what I used to create the umbrella.

Raising the black canopy above us, I brought her in close to me. The truth is, that, yes, I can create other humans; I vehemently oppose the notion that I created the young women that now stood pressed against me.

She smiled at me when she noticed that the umbrella had appeared, then quickly stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed me on my cheek. My flesh burned with a pleasant heat where her lips had been only moments before.

I smiled at her, took her hand and we continued walking down the now wet sidewalk. We enjoyed each others company; we hated to be separated but knew we must be.

A crack of a lightning bolt and the rumble of thunder sounded overhead, she cowered into my shoulder. Simply, I put my arm around her and kept a tight grip on her until she realized that she was safe.

She kept close to my side scared that the lightning might hit us, and in particular, herself.

Gradually we approached her house, when upon the door step, she turned back to face me. She asked that would she me tomorrow, I replied that of course she would. She gave me a single kiss, upon the lips, and then pulled away; she went inside.

No sooner than I was half way down the street than a titanic lightning bolt hit the house, causing it to explode, throwing me far against the pavement.

Suddenly, sharp pain tore through my face; several sharp glass shards had come flying at me. I did not have enough time to gather the needed energy to erect a barrier. The pain was simply too great, I collapsed on myself and unconsciousness took me.

Much later, I awoke in a soft bed. My eyes sealed shut, my mouth listless. My hearing was fuzzy at best, but I could still hear words, "Don't...stress...she...dead?

The damage had been done, I sat bolt upright with a sob, the word dead echoed through my mind. Suddenly hands gripped me, trying to lay me down, I resisted, suddenly I felt a needle in my arm, and quickly my body went numb. The mystery people pushed me down easily.

My eyes still blinded, my body paralyzed, my mind on fire, I wanted to get up and see my love. But a flickering doubt told me that it was not to be.

My mind racked with sorrow, I quietly cried myself back to sleep.

Upon waking, my body felt whole, my mind clear, and heart heavy, I found myself able to get up off the bed, and walk around, my arm not connected to any IV tubes.

I wanted to get out of this accursed room, and pay my final respects and love to the one that had been lost to me.

There was no call nurse button, and the door was locked. I attempted to gather the energy I needed to covert matter, but to no avail. I screamed silently in despair; something had happened to strip me of my powers.

I raised a hand to my face and immediately pulled it away as if shocked, I felt deep gouges in my skin.

Rushing to a mirror, I examined my face. Deep brown ruts were inlaid against the light brown skin of my face, I was devastated, my face had been scarred, by those shards that put me here in the first place.

I sat back on my bed, nonchalant and listless, my being and my heart have both been torn and broken.

Soon after the discovery of me having my powers revoked by the universe, the head doctor came in and sat opposite me and without regard for my emotions, went into a report of my injuries.

They all included the scars on my face, the abnormal brain wave that I had been transmitting that had allowed me to manipulate matter was gone with the trauma I had suffered. But other than that I was left unscathed by the incident.

Furious, I yelled for the good doctor to take to my girl, he shook his head and said, no she had already been moved to a funeral home, to be cremated in a few hours.

Great sobs broke my being, I shook as if stricken with palsy, my heart torn asunder, my brain like a dark light bulb. The greatest pain of all that has ever been known, I have come to know as heartbreak.

The doctor looked down and reached into the bag beside him and pulled out a book. At first I couldn't read the title, but my sight slowly restored itself; The Mysteries of Time and What is Time?

He said that he heard that I was a fan of science and paradoxes. Hesitantly I accepted the book from his slightly gnarled hands.

The book cover was composed of black leather with the title in golden letter and a silver watch, tastefully embroidered into the cover held a sort of magic power over me. In my hands it almost felt as though it was vibrating, as though something inside of it wanted out and fast.

I was attracted to that book, it seemed to call to me. The ache of losing my love made the call all the more alluring.

I opened the book and read the first page, I was half way through that one page when I looked up, the doctor who had given me the book I held in my hands was gone, just gone; as if he had never existed.

I shrugged and went back to reading.

Over the past few days, I devoured the information in that book. I read it many, many times. Slowly an idea began to form within the confines of my mind, if I could gather enough energy, would it be possible to reverse time and correct this problem?

That thought drove me for many years; I made a list of materials that I would need, ranging from different metals to certain cloths. Already a being of incredible dexterity, I didn't bother buying the objects I needed, I borrowed them without asking and with no intent to return them.

I understood time, I could make it mine, and use our Mother Nature's own power to undo the fabric of the world, nay, THE UNIVERSE!

Slowly, after many years of meditation, fasting, and painful retribution, I could feel the destructive power of what I wanted to be lodged with in me. It wanted out, and I was going to allow it.

Many days later, I wrote the spell I would need, committed it to memory, and burned the parchment in the small fire in the cave where I had lived for 14 years. The final year was devoted to that one inscription, one spell.

When I knew I was ready, I walked slowly up to a nearby hill, just as a devastating lightning storm was rolling up.

I bellowed into the sky the incantation, egging the storm on, raising my fingers, with one ring of the needed materials on each.

As the storm worsened, I grinned but still chanted the spell.

CRACK! The lightning flashed and hit the ground all around me, all in a perfect circle. I had undermined Mother Nature's own control, and now it was mine.

Each flash brought down the heat of a thousand light bulbs at once, each flash imprinted in my mind firmly. The torrential rain soaked my long coat and robes through long ago, but I did not feel the icy rain's jaws tear through my skin, all I felt was warmth.

I continued to bellow the incantation into the billowing sky; I had turned myself from mere mortal into a powerful sorcerer. My scarred face twitched, now I truly felt the real power. At the tips of my fingers I could feel the pure, angry energy of the lightning as they acted as lightning rods, continuously absorbing the power without stop.

Slowly, the space around me, on that hill, began to lose its definition. I continued to chant; unaware that I was becoming unconscious, but aware of the fact that I was succeeding where others have fallen. Still I chanted through the thick folds of my mind, intent on rewriting history itself.


Unfortunately it was not to be, only at the last moment I realized that I had failed where all others had.

I could feel my soul fleeing from my body; a final sob emanated from my body, I had stopped chanting, I whispered into the air, "I'm sorry."

Then in the last second I heard a voice, "You got what you deserve." Then, nothing.