DEMIS (A Clash With Lightning)

14

The white of the cyclops mother's eye had begun to turn red as she grabbed the wrist of her scorched arm. She turned her head towards the humans on the ground next to her feet. With an agonizing scream she began stomping towards them. She was determined to crush them beneath her feet, anything to stop the pain of the boiling water wrapped around her arm. 

"Watch out!" Josh yelled. 

The group scattered in different directions while the cyclops' foot made contact with the ground they were just standing at. Jasmine hid behind a large cup that had fallen to the ground during the commotion. She remained focused on manipulating the steaming water, but she was starting to lose strength. She needed to train harder, so she could use her power longer. 

She squinted her eyes while tightening her grip on the cyclops' arm. She then forced the water to move up to the cyclop's neck and began to choke it. She began to slash violently and crashed into different shelves and knocked down the table. She tried to reach and grab the water and immediately dropped her hands as they went through the water and burned her. 

While Jasmine strangled the cyclops, Keith took the opportunity to toss fireballs at her kneecaps. This caused her to collapse to her knees and hit the ground. Ban and Josh wasted no time as they jumped towards her face, penetrating her giant eye with both of their daggers, blinding her. 

Jasmine felt a bead of sweat drip down her back. She gritted her teeth as she tightened the water's grip around the monster's neck. She was running out of time and needed to finish this quickly. The cyclops struggled for another minute that felt like eternity before she finally stopped moving. 

Jasmine collapsed due to exhaustion. Her heart was beating faster than she believed it ever had before. Rose ran to grab Jasmine before she fell to the ground, wrapping her arm around her shoulder to support her weight. "You did it." She whispered encouragingly. "You saved us!"

Jasmine stared at the dead cyclops. She was overwhelmed with emotions. She was relieved that they had taken the monster down before it killed any of them. She also felt guilty because she had just killed the mother of a child and left it orphaned, even if that child was a monster. Lastly, she felt pride that she was strong enough to take down such a large beast. This was proof of her inner strength, and she was only just brushing the surface of it. 

Josh grabbed Jasmine's other shoulder and nodded for Rose to leave carrying her to him. Rose walked slowly towards the deceased creature, still wearing her mother's armor. She didn't realize her armor would be so big. How would she ever be able to wear this? 

She walked towards the shoulder of the monster's shoulder where her mother's crest was engraved. She stared at it before instinctively placing her hand on it. A bright light shined from the armor before it slipped from the monster's body on its own. Rose jumped in surprise and landed on her butt. The armor shined a bright pink as it began to shrink to a size that would fit Rose. It landed in her hands softly. Rose could feel it humming in her fingers as if it was pleased to finally be with it's true owner. 

"That was...beautiful." She spoke softly as her eyes didn't leave the glowing armor. 

"The armor is able to change sizes, and now it will give you the ability to change sizes." Ban observed. 

"Right." She responded without really paying attention. Her hand brushed over the armor. She smiled realizing that she would never again be useless in a battle against a fierce monster. 

"Mother! Is dinner ready yet?" The cyclops child called. 

"We need to get out of here." Jasmine called weakly. "I have no strength left to fight the child, and even if I did, I would rather not be responsible for killing a child."