Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 28: 027 - Immaterial

Read chapter 28 of Sulphur & Lightning by anaugustauthor on NovelPedia.

He stretched his hand out, and his opponent grabbed it. He could hear the drums beating behind him. Their rhythm was gentle, building. He didn’t know what the signal was, but he knew it couldn’t be that. His opponent’s eyes flashed peculiarly for a moment, but he felt that he imagined it. That wasn’t right. His sight wasn’t infallible, but he did like to think it was damned near close to it. He didn’t just see things. What exactly was that? Before he could fully interrogate the cause, though, he suddenly felt the tightening of the music as the callused palms of the entranced drummers struck the skins with a marked note. It had begun. Grips. Leaps. Feints. A certain member of the audience let out a surprised yelp at the suddenness of the engagement. The two wrestlers performed what felt like a dozen different moves in a few moments before disengaging again, pulling back and circling the sand-cushioned ring and locking in again. Another spectator wanted to cheer but saw that the rest of the crowd was too invested to even give that a thought, and so instead was quietly observant also. Elijah grabbed hold of his shoulders and tried to flip him. But the man landed on his feet. His opponent was shocked but didn’t dally and instead dove at his legs, planning on lifting him by them. Another clean throw. Still, his opponent’s back never touched the sand. This went on for multiple iterations. In turn, the man pushed forward but did not gain any ground on the Lycan’s brawn. He twirled and used the numerous arts he had grown up learning, only to find that his opponent was immovable. Alas, his opponent was also impatient. He ground his teeth at this but dived in again. The man escaped his grasp like a fish, slipping through his guard and tripping him with his foot as he passed by. It was successful; the Lycan stumbled. Elijah arrested his motion midfall but was shocked beyond belief at what was happening. He was a Lycan. What was happening was impossible. As he wrestled with his unbelief, he saw something that shocked him more, though. The man’s shadow morphed. It twisted and turned like a flame in the wind to reveal the form of a black cat. It was only a moment, but a moment was a million in the Lycan’s eyes. He stared him down again with focused eyes as his mind tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Nwamba... The multiple strange occurrences transported the young Lycan’s mind to a popular fable about the Swallow and the Cat. This proud bird, many moons ago, had challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and succeeded in throwing every creature that came to meet the challenge. It was said that he had met with a powerful witch doctor, and his juju (witchcraft) was what enabled him to be successful, even against the great apes and hoofed beasts of the land. The juju was called Nwamba oji. It was one thing to know how he did it, though, and a completely other thing to know how to defeat him. It was then that the mysterious cat came and challenged this proud swallow. The beasts of the land had never seen the creature before, and, as it had come during the night, they had only seen it as a pair of bright eyes because its black fur blended into the night like one of its many shadows. The Swallow accepted the challenge, though his heart was caught in his throat at the sight of this strange beast. They battled. The charm worked as it had been, giving him the peculiar and total mastery of the art. His grip ignored weight and size. Experience and cunning. He was indomitable. Still, despite this amazing ability... he soon found out something strange. After so many tosses and flips that he felt that he had exhausted even his measureless arsenal, he found out that this creature, no matter how many times he was thrown to the ground, would never have his back touch it. No matter the manoeuvres and combinations the indomitable bird attempted, he found that his enemy was too much for him and would not fall down. The proud bird, in his haste fr