Escape from Whitestone Hold

Thunderstruck- Chapter 9

For an instant, the sky erupted in blinding white fire and the heavens cracked open, pouring the wrath of a billion volts of electricity directly into Sapphira's raised dagger. But the devastating amount of current didn't stop there. It arced straight through Sapphira's already-sparking body as though her sole purpose in life was to be a lightning rod. For one ear-shattering moment, every scale on her body glowed with brilliant intensity and every muscle clenched. Her jaws opened ferociously, directing her inner well of power into the outside world again, and an intense blast of caustic plasma emanated forth, enveloping her entire face. A deafening thunderclap erupted to punctuate the terrifying embers of her image as they burned into the eyes of all who gazed upon the spectacle. And then as quickly as it had come, the uncontainable energy leapt into the ground, draining away through her heels.

Sapphira was, of course, completely unaware of any of these occurrences, as her body had just unwittingly become a conduit for nature's unleashed fury. Every cell had immediately become energized beyond what it could handle, and every sense had become overwhelmed by debilitating agony. Her muscles seized up from the jolt, leaving her as a stunned, shocked, slightly-toasted dragonborn. Sapphira was promptly knocked to the ground as her legs gave out on her, and her head spun as though her mind had just been switched off and on again. She barely felt the impact of her back hitting the ground, seeing as every nerve in her body was trying to reboot while giving the sensation of fiery needles.

Had Sapphira planned this? Not exactly... Her turbulent instincts had been too focused on annihilation to have actively planned such a feat. But was it effective? That's also debatable... Regardless of what this attack had done to Storm, it had completely immobilized Sapphira. She was resistant to lightning, sure... But a direct strike of natural lightning was certainly not something to joke about, even at the best of times.

Sapphira's heart skipped a few beats, leaving her nauseous and dizzy. Her ears were still ringing. The air smelled of ozone, and seemed harder to breathe than usual. She gasped for breath, suddenly realizing her throat was burned and swelling. There was an excruciating pain in her heel where the lightning had exited her body, and her hand was raw and smoking slightly where it had been clutching the dagger. But it didn't feel like anything at all. In fact, most of Sapphira's body felt numb, as though it was not giving proper feedback, and every muscle felt sluggish and fatigued. The raindrops hitting her skin stung like like hot coals, overloading her spinning mind. Her ears were still ringing, and she blinked in shocked confusion for a second as she gazed up into the rainy sky. Slowly, she struggled to use her twitching neck to raise her head and look towards the muffled sounds of the Magistrate army.

Several soldier corpses lay smoking on the ground on either side of Storm, but Storm still stood defiantly in place with a smug smile, her entire body protected behind another semi-transparent energy shield that seemed to originate from a small device tossed on the ground in front of her. There was also a small scattering of ice shards on the ground around Maltheus, who was now standing defensively between Sapphira and the army, brandishing the shattered remains of his ice shield. He was saying something and holding out his hands at the army, who were advancing menacingly with guns trained on him, but Sapphira's ears made everything sound like it was underwater, so she couldn't comprehend what was being said. What had happened? What was happening? Sapphira wasn't sure, but as she lay on the ground in exhaustion, clutching her spastically-palpitating heart, she was painfully aware of one thing... They had, indeed, lost.

Sapphira fell back to the ground and shook her head, trying to regain her senses. How could this have happened?! She had taken herself out of the battle before it had begun, and her sacrifice hadn't even made a difference! She turned her head to the side, breathing heavily as she clutched her fluttering heart. Her eyes fell on the dagger that had been struck mere moments before. No. It can't be over... It's never over...  She snapped her raw jaws shut in defiance, sluggishly reaching out for the blade. Her queasy stomach gurgled again, bringing Avnir's horribly-seasoned health potion back to mind, even despite the intense shock.