Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 5: 004 - Jungle Justice

Read chapter 5 of Sulphur & Lightning by anaugustauthor on NovelPedia.

He had let the darkness overtake him. At this vital moment, he had regained his clarity as though he were an outside observer. Was this truly what he wanted? To throw his life away in some tantrum? What he wanted… The world wasn’t interested in what he wanted. If it were up to him, he would never have met these bastards, not to mention throwing his life away in battle with them. Sigh. This is taking a little long, isn’t it? He had heard that time moved slower close to death, but this felt a little ridiculous. Just as he was trying to figure out a means of expediting his own demise, he felt a warm and wide hand on his shoulder. “Eli,” he heard, nearly jumping out of his skin at the familiar voice. “It’s fine.” The rough-haired boy didn’t turn around, almost disbelieving what was happening. He hesitated for a long time but managed a faltering “Dad?” “So you still recognise this old man?” he asked sarcastically, turning him around to face him. “But…” He was so confused. “I saw everything,” he said, grey eyes meeting yellow. “You needn’t be afraid, though. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, I promise.” Elijah felt a plethora of emotions shoot through him at the words, but took in a deep breath instead– this wasn’t the time to process all this. Later. Hopefully. Instead, he nodded solemnly, acknowledging his father’s words. “You fought well.” Those words, which left a strange tingling in the young Lycan’s chest, were the last thing he heard before he came to. He found himself in the same position he had been in before; his dad must have pulled him into his mindscape [1] for the conversation. Feeling simultaneously complicated and relieved, he reversed the transformation and released his victim from his grasp, raising his hands above his head in surrender as the ash evaporated. The result was a vicious strike to the temple with the back of the silver dagger, which caused him to fall to his knees. The brutal sting produced a strained smile, and he kept his hands raised while they attended to their injured teammates. “You bastard!” The impassioned cry came after Yachit had finished inspecting the damage to her teammate's hands. The osu dog hadn’t held back at all, and all the bones in her hands had been shattered like pottery. She rushed at him and punted him to the ground with her steel-toed boots. Although it was a pretty brutal strike –much more powerful than he had expected from a regular person of her level– Elijah was unbothered and merely smiled cockily even as she sat on his chest, pinning him to the ground and landing punch after punch on his face with bloodcurdling ferocity. No harm will come to you, he’d said… I’m never listening to that man again. One could hardly blame the boy for losing some confidence in his father since the first thing that happened after his reassurances had been a clobbering. Luckily, she seemed to be tiring herself out. Damn it! Her wound had reopened from her exertion, and since it was her dominant hand, she hadn’t been able to bring even two-thirds of her usual brawn to bear despite the rabidity of her attacks. She yanked him upwards, having to extract the head, half-buried in the ground beneath, to inspect her handiwork. To her great chagrin, though, not only was he fine, but his powerful healing factor was already at work and in no time, there would be no evidence of her fury on his person. Such blows were no laughing matter, and he was in a great deal of pain, but the combination of his father’s reassurance and his opponent’s desperation did something to soothe his injuries, and he managed another cocky smirk. Her face twisted resentfully at this. You’re dead! She raised her fist high in preparation for another strike, and most bizarrely, it seemed to turn to stone as a dangerous red energy condensed around it. It was now closer to a miniature comet than a fist. Elijah’s relaxed mood completely evaporated at this, and he tried to trigger his transformation. He was certain he’d be killed if