To my amazement though, instead ofgetting torn to shreds, Kiran met him in the air, forcing him to the groundunderneath him. They were not alone for more than a millisecond before Talbottjumped into the wrestling match pounding the human turned animal until he bled.

I hoped that this was the end ofit, but there were four other cloaked beings surrounding us and I had anominous feeling this fight was far from over. Two more of the strange menimmediately transformed into similarly dangerous animals to assist theirfriend; one a bobcat, the other a leopard. Snarling, growling and biting, theyattacked Kiran and Talbott over and over. I watched, with disbelieving eyes ata fight that seemed doomed.

The animals ripped into their skin,biting, clawing, tearing away pieces of flesh, but I never saw blood. I used myheightened sense to search for the terrifying sight of torn and bloodied fleshbut could not find it. My stomach lurched at the sight of Talbott and Kiran ina battle for their lives, but I remained a bystander unsure of how to help.

My mind refused to process what Icould feel was reality around me. Lilly let out a battle cry of her own,jumping into the air and turning herself into a tigress. Her animal formmaintained her petite size and the vibrant red color of her hair, but her clawsand teeth had suddenly become the most ferocious weapons I had ever seen. Shejoined the fight, tearing and biting the other animals involved. I covered mymouth with my hand, unable to move, paralyzed by confusion.

Kiran threw the mountain lion offof him with such an unimaginable force; the animal was thrown at least thirtyfeet away. Quickly the animal, once a man, was back on his feet taking threequick bounds and jumping back into the fray. Talbott was desperate to keep theanimals away from Kiran, throwing one, and then two off of him, but they werepersistent, always returning with even more vigor.

The two remaining masked menremained men, but were none the less dangerous. They joined the fight as well,uprooting trees and hurling large boulders at my tiring friends. They had yetto touch anything however, accomplishing it all with what seemed to be just anoutstretched hand.

The fight was creating a clearingof its own in the once crowded forest. Trees and boulders were constantlyhurled at my friends, some finding their mark; some stopped midair and droppedto the ground by a mere glance from Kiran. The only problem was that theanimals continued to attack him, making it impossible for him to see everyobstruction coming his way. My friends were being beaten to death and I stillstood there helpless.

I swallowed the bile rising in mythroat and I couldn’t help the feeling of panic washing over me. I had beenforgotten, a simple bystander to the unreal destruction happening all aroundme. My tired and outnumbered friends were frantic to win their survival but theattacking men seemed even more bent on their demolition.

My blood was hot with electricitysurging through my veins, my heart beating wildly out of control. My fingersand muscles twitched with the desire to join and my senses heightened to acrystal clear state. I inhaled deeply of the battle around me and I realizedthat I wasn’t helpless.

And then it dawned on me. Theenergy coursing through my veins must be the same force with which these menwere using. Its very nature sharpened into a treacherous weapon by theirpresence. I could feel anticipation mingled with bloodlust as though theelectricity itself were a life form. I had never felt more empowered as theelectricity I had tried to oppress for so long rushed through my blood givingme a sense of strength I had never experienced before.

I forced my mind to focus on thefight, appreciating that all of my senses were already finely in tuned. Iwatched as mammal ripped flesh from mammal, and masked men performed feats ofstrength that should have been utterly impossible. Kiran and Talbott seemed topossess the same power that the two remaining humans did; the landscape aroundus was ripped to pieces as they tried to destroy one another.

I tested my own strength with anearby rock. I willed it to be lifted into the air with my mind and the smallbolder obeyed easily. I decided the course of destruction and the rock flewthrough the air crashing into pieces against a small tree. Again I tested mystrength with the same tree, ripping it out of the ground and lifting it easilyinto the air; its limbs and roots hung precariously over the two standingstrangers. With a thought, I dropped the tree onto them and watched as theywere crushed beneath it. I heard the revolting crunch of bones breaking as theywere buried beneath the branches.

The men did not give up however,and threw the tree off of their mangled bodies scrambling to their feet, bonescompletely restored. My mind refused to believe what my senses had alreadyaccepted as reality. Again I tested my strength, electricity building withevery mental movement.

Merely thinking of a basketballsized boulder, I lifted it with my mind, the energy growing even stronger andhurled it with all of the mental power I had at the nearest shrouded figure.Everyone had written me off, clearly I had been frozen by fear, but asterrifying as my new found powers were, I was the only hope we had for victory.

The man I hit was not expecting anattack from me, and I realized they did not comprehend where the first tree Idropped on them came from. I hit him directly in the temple, causing asickening skull-crushing thud. He lost his balance and fell over, letting out ascream of frustration.

For just a second Kiran had theupper hand and brought another tree branch down on him. Momentarily he wastrapped, until the other standing figure reached out his arms sending Kiranflying through the air in the opposite direction and isolating him from therest of the mêlée.

I decided to try the same effect,and it was my turn to send the other attacker flying. I was more than angry, Iwas furious. All of the energy building up inside of me had come to an alarmingclimax, I let it loose on this one man, sending him thirty feet away and headfirst into a thick tree. I expected the energy to dissipate after releasing somuch at one time, but it rushed back through my blood stronger and more powerful,sanctioning me to do more damage.

I saw the battle clearly, moreclearly than I had seen anything else in my life. It was as if I was createdspecifically for that moment. The deathly encounter made me more alive than Ihad ever felt. I could no longer fight against my ingrained electricity, butworked with it to wield the destruction I saw all around me. The energy rushingthrough my body set me on a war path, my blood turning to an uncontrollablefire, and I found that I was willing to fight at any cost to win the battle.

I took a moment to assess thesituation around me. Lilly, although in the form of a tiger had her back to thecliff wall, trapped by both the leopard and the mountain lion. She was acapable fighter, but the two animals were closing in on her and I knew itwouldn’t be long.

Kiran had come face to face withthe very man I threw and they were circling each other, both waiting for theother to make the first move. Talbott was in a wrestling match with the bobcatand had barely escaped his throat being ripped out twice. It was only a matterof time.

The man I trapped underneath thetree branch had thrown it off and was standing, ready to attack me. I took thisall in, in a single breath, but understood with certainty that this fight couldnot last any longer. We were outnumbered and they would not stop until each oneof us was dead.

I gathered the energy inside of me,letting it build and build. The man who had intended to attack me slowed to astop and tried his attack at a distance. The electricity in my blood became asort of energy field around me, blocking the attacks from the cloaked manstanding only a few feet away.