Chapter 11

How did it get this bad? This should have been easy! Crashing into the ocean, the waves surged around Anya, drowning her, smashing her into the rocks nearby. She was lucky she didn’t injure herself upon impact. Not that she’d had much choice but to jump. Up above was certain death, but now she felt helpless. Nothing she tried mattered, she was captive in the awesome power of the water. Death was sometimes a consequence of the risks her people took to find their Heartsong, their inner harmony. What was one more in the vast scope of the island?

NO! She kicked off a rock with all her might, surging up just enough for a single, wonderful gulp of air. The nearby reefworms were taking advantage of the opportunity. The serpentine bodies, with wings like swimming rays easily darted through the water, the barbed tails slamming into her, and injecting venom before retreating. The individual stings were adding up, they would soon enjoy an easy meal if she didn’t change her fortune. Valuable gasps of air bubbled out of her lungs as she took the wounds.

Anya called to the lightning, pleaded, begged, demanded. It didn’t matter. She was always fast, dangerous, and inspiring, just like lightning! So how could it end like this?! Answer me! Resonate! So close, she could feel it. It echoed off the core of her, just out of reach.

She slammed into a rock, clinging onto it with all she had. The push and pull of the ocean never relented, trying to rip her off her post. She bled from a hundred little cuts, both from predator and environment. She would burn it all to the ground if she could. At this point she was spent but fought on out of nothing but spite and rage.

Somehow, she wasn’t entirely conscious of what happened, she surfaced, using the rocks as protection. She pressed with her legs, bracing between a narrow opening. Her head was just above water, gulping air like she never had before. Glancing about over a tumult of whitecaps, she could see the rocky shore nearby. Swimming with everything she had left, she crawled across the flat rocky shelf, hidden two feet below the waterline.

Sand and rock. Land. Salvation. She made it. Anya flopped onto her back, too exhausted to move. The sky above her dark with clouds. Rain was falling. Water lapped at her body as she began to pass out from the sheer exhaustion of expended effort. A ferocious growl snapped her back to the present. Picking its way down the cliffside was the saltclaw. It had not let go of its prey so easily. It was a patient ambush predator after all, and amphibious… of course. Why would her falling off a cliff even concern it? It could probably just jump in and finish her. Maybe it was smart enough to avoid the rocky shoals she had so foolishly jumped into. No matter, she had nothing left, and her moment had come. All she could do was wait for her end to arrive. She felt around for any rocks, shells, anything she could throw, but it wouldn’t make any difference.

Anya stared at the sky, resigned to her fate. She reached for the lightning, one last time, finding it beyond her reach. So be it. At least she would enjoy the rain that had begun falling. Anya was never exactly even-tempered, but the rain always calmed her. It was as if the world slowed down, and the quiet of the world settled around her. She closed her eyes, letting the drops wash over her face.

The storm was certainly a big one. She might have called it majestic. Lighting blasted a tree somewhere on the cliffs above. Thunder pounded, reverberating deep in her chest. Lightning again, flashing amongst a deluge as the rain wall reached her. Her final moments arrived. Soaked to the bone, wind swirling, violent lightning flashing,and thunder sounding in the sky. The thunder was loud, echoing off the cliff face. It made her jump, but not in fear, in excitement. The reverberation in her chest was… something’s off… the thunder, the lighting, the water, all of it. It made a more complete whole.

What did this mean? She reached… Was thunder the answer? No. It couldn’t be… it didn’t feel right. Then what had she felt? The rain…no. She stared at the ocean, at the white caps. The water was agitated, being stirred up by the storm. Not the ocean either, but it was…all of it. The wind, the thunder, the rain, the lightning. The storm.

It resonated.

The saltclaw closed rapidly, now sprinting across the ground, seeking its meal. Leaping for the kill, her time was up.

“No.”Her voice blasted forth, calm now but with the force of thunder. A torrent of lightning exploded from her body in all directions, bolts shooting outward chaotically. Swirling wind and rain created a vortex around her. Storm resonance demanded witness, declaring itself to the world.

The saltclaw was knocked of course mid-pounce, by a swirling torrent of air and water. It was hurt, as the lightning sought nearby targets to permeate. It roared in pain, landing in the shallow water.

Anya wasn’t done. Fatigued, her muscles protested every small movement. Her willfulness took over. “Why won’t you die?!”

A vast well of power was available to her now. The storm above amplified any resonance she called upon while inside its influence. She stood, feet in the water, and knelt, placing both hands into the shallows. She sang, now a true harmonic, calling the lightning to her aid. The storm above released chaining bolts of lightning, rapidly filling the space, and plunging into the water all around her, thunder accompanying it. It was deafening to anyone close enough to hear it, but it did not bother Anya. She was a storm harmonic, why would she be bothered by the very thing she was? The lightning couldn’t hurt her, only empower her. She’d had it wrong all those years. She had always felt so close, the lightning resonated with her on some level, but it was always more than that. It was thunder, pressure, the rain, the wind, all of it! She didn’t know whether to focus on her elation, her rage, or her exhaustion.

She couldn’t do much more, but it didn’t matter. Anything in the water near her was thoroughly electrocuted, the saltclaw included. Several fish, crabs, and the evil little reefworms popped up to the surface as they were all impacted by the effects of her resonance.

Confirming the death of her foe, she took three stumbling steps up onto the sand, and sank to her knees. A surreal experience, she found herself laughing, and crying, relief mixing with joy. She had given up on lightning at the end, but oh what she had gained! Her mother would be so proud! And surprised! The storm affinity was rare, but powerful! It had multiple facets! She would need time to learn them all, but the possibilities! All the ways she could help her people now. That would be the greatest boon of all.

The waves washed up small carcasses of the reefworms next to her. She sat in the shallows, just trying not to collapse. Waves would rise with the tides, so she couldn’t stay here forever. The saltclaw lay on the shore nearby. This was her first good look at it. Her heart sank, and panic set in instantly. It was covered in the inky black corruption of the blight, and it had injured her. She knew what this meant. It was a waiting game now. Time would tell if she was doomed with the blight.

The storm continued wildly around her, thundering and blowing, uncaring. Her hair whipped in the wind, sticking across her face, and tangling in knots. Anya didn’t notice at all.