Orbs of Power

Chapter Twelve

Sean and Sapphire continued to walk. The place where Max was being held was still a little under a weeks walk away, and they walked.

Every night before he slept, Sean practiced drawing lightning from the air around him, sending sparks along his arm to his fingertips.

He would then point at something across the clearing and-

ZAP.

Scorch marks would arc up the tree or light the bush on fire or have some effect, but Sean would keep trying, again and again and again, every night, straining, worried.

He didn't think he was good enough.

While Sean was not too smart, he knew a bit about battle, and how much electricity it took to take a man down. He thought.

In all actuality though, he knew nothing about electricity, and so knew not how much would stun or kill a man or woman, armor or otherwise.

The army, he knew, did not wear metal armor as metal was extremely expensive. Instead, they wore heavy rubber chestplates that were form fitted as to minimize discomfort.

It was the second night after Sean and Sapphire had strengthened their reserve and the second night Sean had begun to practice.

"Ok, will you SHUT UP?!"

Sean was so startled he flung the shock into the air, watching with wide eyes as the blue-ish white lightning faded as it rose.

He looked toward her tent to see Sapphire's unruly haired head peeking out of the flaps.

Seeing her murderous expression, he took a step back.

"Er, sorry, didn't know it was keeping you up..."

Her eyes narrowed. "Clearly."

She then retreated into the inviting warmth of her tent, saying, "Just keep it down and we won't have any problems. Don't know what you're even doing, but eh..."

Sean shrugged a bit. "I was trying to practice with my powers, but alright..."

She thrust her head back out. "Excuse me? Why?"

He rolled his eyes. "Weil ich kann!" Because I can!

She stuck out her tongue, but seated herself in the entrance. "Let's see whatchya got."

He took a deep breath and gathered the sparks. They trailed down the length of his arms to converge at his fingers, forming the shocking ball in seconds. He flung it toward the tree facing him with a crackle and a bang as they collided. It theft a great char mark the easily spanned the width of your average person.

Sapphire whistled, but Sean was frowned.

He sighed. "It's not good enough."

Sapphire made a choking sound. "Dude, that..."

She trailed off as she saw that nothing she would say would sway him.

She would have to try a different approach.

"Do you think you could form a wave?"

He pursed his lips, then shrugged. "I guess..."

He drew on the air yet again, the smell of ozone filling the air as the plasma started to build up.

He flung the lightning in a horizontal wave, slicing the tree and several others in half.

His eyes widened as Sapphire became to laugh, clapping.

"See? You'll do fine. With that move you could clear out whole lines of enemies. Plus, the first stuff you were doing, the whole chucking stuff could easily kill anyone with only small amount of protection."

She stopped to consider. "Although, most of the enemies have rubber armor, which absorbs electricity, but their legs should be open. Plus, even if you don't kill 'em , they will most certainly be stunned."

He looked over to his cousin with a lopsided smile. "You really think so?"

Sapphire smirked. "Definitely."

She rolled back into her tent. "Now go to bed, you loser."

He smiled and crawled into his own tent.

At least they were still happy then.