Chapter 37: The Creature Within

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Everything happened at lightning speed.  Too fast for me to even comprehend what I was doing, much less attempt to re-gain control of my own actions.

Lucas saw my attack coming and tried to move out of they way, but he was too slow.  My shoulder rammed into his chest with all the speed and power of my uncontrolled fury.  Lucas was thrown off his feet.  He landed several meters away, pitching and rolling across the floor.  He slammed hard into the wall.  Bamboo cracked and shattered around him.  A few chunks came loose and clattered to the floor.

He whipped around and met my gaze, eyes flaming with anger.

“What the hell is wrong with you?  You little b-”

I didn’t bother listening to the rest, I was already charging in for anther attack.  I was completely illogical.  The wildcat had taken over.  There wasn’t a thread of rational thought left inside of me.

This time, Lucas was ready for me.  I lunged straight at his face.  He swerved out of the way and shoved me hard between the shoulder blades, turning my own momentum against me.  I shot forward and smashed right through the divider that separated the main hallway from the courtyard.  I landed on the grass, debris raining down over my head.

I was back up in a flash.  Without a single moment of hesitation, ready for my next attack.

Everything after that was a blur.  We fought like a pair of wild animals, even though we were both still in human form.  I came at Lucas with my teeth bared, nails flashing, channeling the wildcat into every one of my actions.  Lucas stomped and kicked, throwing his superior size and weight around.

We were crashing into the walls, putting holes in the floor, making an almighty racquet.  I heard doors creak open and sounds of alarm, but no one dared to get in between us.

Lucas didn’t hold anything back.  He put all his strength into every attack.  His face was set, yet there was a flicker of something underneath.  Something that looked almost like fear.

He wasn’t prepared for this, it couldn’t have been more obvious.  He was used to picking fights with people smaller and weaker than him.  People who didn’t stand up to him.  People who didn’t fight back.  And now he had met his match in a place he never would have expected.

But, that’s what I didn’t understand.  I was holding my own against him, but that was about it. According to Isaac—hell, according to everything I had experienced lately—I should have destroyed Lucas in seconds.  By this point, he should have been nothing but a quivering pile of flesh on the ground.

I didn’t know what was going on.  I felt… strange.  Like I was fighting through molasses.  My power was still there, bubbling and roiling underneath the surface.  It was building and growing stronger every second.  The warm, tingling sensation now filled my entire body.  Yet, at the same time, it seemed like I could only access a fraction of that potential.

I was a huge, angry lion at the edge of a flimsy chain.  A volcano about to erupt.  A dam that was cracked and strained and ready to burst.

What would happen when all that power broke free?  I was frankly a little scared to find out.

While my thoughts were distracted, Lucas threw me over his shoulder and slammed me onto the floor.  He tried to pin me down.  I thrust my legs out, catching him in the chest and flipping right over my head.  The ground shook when he landed.

I rolled over onto all fours, but Lucas was somehow faster.  I looked up to find a massive black horse with flaming blue eyes glaring down at me.  The creature reared, pawing the air with its gigantic hooves.  I barely scrambled out of the way fast enough to avoid being crushed. 

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