Part 13 – Sudden Storm, and Sudden Opportunity

            Sakura and John worked together to turn the worm into a ripped female dwarf. Hoping to speed up their travels and give another method of moving larger amounts of gear. John was concerned about having a nameless dwarf companion so after a discussion the name chosen was Andrea. However the worm turned dwarf couldn’t travel as smoothly as the other two humanoids. Two legs are so far different than no legs that it caused bad balance, and was constantly tipping over and stumbling.  So for a while Sakura and John both tried to share their memories of walking with Andrea. The hours spent invested in this endeavor was worth it. The morning hours passed and the party covered far more miles than before the memory training.

            The wind was picking up dust and debris that afternoon. It’s a sign of an approaching weather front, or severe storm. Even though the suns should be high in the sky light was obscured by clouds, and the light was dimming at a rapid rate. Clothing was being tugged and whipped about from the gusts. Because of this John suggested the party finds a safe spot to hide from the storm. Even after walking in the foothills they still had trouble finding any good spot to hide. And the weather was getting worse as the minutes pass.

            Andrea spoke up, “Please wait, if you give me some time then I should be able to dig out a section over there.” She points to an area where it is packed rock near a very large boulder.

            John inquired about how stable the hole would be and if they could retire in the area free from rain, wind, and lightning. So Andrea poked about in the rocks, and returned shortly thereafter.

            “We should be fine if you can give me a while. It should be safe, just leave it to me.” Andrea insisted and bowed slightly.

Interrupting the moment the spider and slime hurried over to the dwarf, and lined up as though they will also assist and guarantee the hide away.

            Spoken together “Please, leave it to us as well.”

            Sakura and John looked at each other and approved quickly. The servants turned to work with fervor. Andrea dropped the gear and returned back into the form of a Rock Worm. Working the teeth the worm started to devour and break up the stone under the side of the boulder. The slime tried to chew up the dusty debris, and the spider started to web the gaps between the rocks.

            “Sakura, you know how I said there was energy in many forms?”

            “Of course.”

            “Well Lightning is another form of that energy. But it is also a very dangerous form of energy. It’s strong enough to blow apart trees, burn and rip apart metal, and do much more. Give me your hand, and I’ll try to share some things that I’ve seen.”

            For several minutes the two stand still while holding each other close. While it was only minutes for everyone else John and Sakura shared much back and forth. John was reviewing places that generate electricity. He previewed the rough blueprints for houses an some of the wiring he has worked on. Visions of driving down the highway seeing miles upon miles of wires that span the length of highways were shared. He recalled memories of cities being destroyed by storms and how badly lighting can destroy anything. And lastly the stories of kites and lightning, and visions of buildings constructed with lighting rods and grounding wires were shared. 

            “Amazing, Mistress. You know so much…”

            “No Sakura, this is just some of what can be known. If I was truly that amazing then I could tell you exactly how to harvest lighting. But really the only thing I can propose to you is ways to get hit by it. And that is nothing more than an experiment and it is extremely dangerous. But it is also one of the most potent forms of energy I can think of getting for you.”

            Sakura’s expression grew wide and predatory. “Sure Mistress, I’ve seen the destructive potential of that energy. But if I could harness that much energy I could be Amazing! I could build endlessly!”

            “NO, you can’t. Everything takes energy that I shared with you. And I have some concepts on how to put things like that together. But the power plants are well beyond me and we simply don’t have enough to construct those things. The absolute best I could do is to give directions to make something small scale. But the power for cities is massive, and well outside my abilities. From my world it takes huge groups of people weeks or months just to make one type of power plant. So, No. Don’t get too excited. Our best chance is to try and harness lightning. But trying to do so, might very well risk ourselves all together.”

            “Mistress, just living is dangerous. Every encounter out here is dangerous. Even the eagle and baby bird was a risk to my core. So sure this is a serious risk, but success is a serious reward. It’s absolutely a fantastic opportunity Mistress.”

            John gave instructions to Sakura to set up a series of scrap weapons and metal fragments in an array in the open space on the hill. Then he shared nearly all the remaining energy he had with Sakura and instructed her to create very thin copper wire. To make something like a copper coin but it is nothing but a thin sliver of it, like a copper coil. They then wrapped the wire around the metal that was staked into the ground, and led part of the wire back in the direction of the cave.

            Sakura worked out a safety measure with John. Sakura spun from her body the red veins and attached them to the copper wire. From the copper wire the veins were run along the ground to ground a portion of the power from a lighting strike and prevent a direct copper conduit leading to her body. In addition to this safety measure Sakura created a small core wrapped with the same veins as a means to collect the energy. Then as a final length of fewer veins were braided together and leading to Sakura near the entrance the servants made.

            “I hope this is enough to keep you from getting hurt.” John said over the howl of the wind from directly behind Sakura. John stayed kneeling behind Sakura and rested his hands on her shoulders.

            “This is the best we can do. And with any luck it will work. Really I hope this will help replenish most of my mana reserves.” Sakura said while her hands gripped the two braids coming from the buffer core.

            Sakura and John had a little practice with transferring a tiny portion of energy and mana. But John is not capable of converting energy to mana. And while he could take some from Sakura he couldn’t make mana. He also can tell his abilty to give energy is not as well as Sakura. To give a comparison then Sakura is more like a master chef with energy, and John is more like a child playing in the kitchen with energy. He could do something with lots of energy but he wastes a lot while doing it. When Sakura could take something the size of an egg and make a meal.

            All three servants watch with anticipation as John and Sakura remain seated right at the mouth of the cave. Their effort was made to guard their master (s) from the storm. Yet they willingly take a risk with the very storm. It’s serious enough that their very safety is even in question.   

            Minutes turn into hours and the worst of the storm arrives. At first it appears as if the experiment would be all in failure. But when the outside has all turned black and green in color the echo of thunder boomed in the mountain. Eventually they saw flashes of light and it slowly closed the distance.

            John kept flinching with the repeated flash of lightning, and that caused Sakura to be surprised and flinched.

            “Mistress, stop it! You’re unsettling me every time you do that.”

            “I’m sorry Sakura. I just don’t like getting electrocuted. But if we can take it as energy and absorb it then like you said there is a lot to gain. But we’re still doing this blind and I hate to gamble like this.” 

            “Just calm down Mistress and focus like how I told you to. If we can convert it then it will be worth it. If it helps you calm down then you can fondle me if you like.” Sakura said with comfort and the last part with more than a hint of eroticism.

            John takes a few deep breaths and tried to control his mind like he use to when he tried to meditate. He also let his fingers slide over her shoulders and muscles. After a short while he just let his hands massage her shoulders and neck using his muscle memory. Doing something repetitive and mindless with his hands helped him calm down in the face of the deafening thunder and blinding lightning.

            Everything turned white and unfeeling. Every sense of touch or awareness had vanished.  No one could see what exactly happened because the speed of lightning was just far too fast. In additions it wasn’t just one bolt of lightning that struck, but a total of four.

            The metal blades and fragments that were wired up outside the cave lit up and fragmented. The metal heated up while the water cascaded down from the rain. Solid steel weapons turned from solid metal to molten metal in a tiny fraction of time. The explosion sent fragments in all directions. The copper wire guided the lightning down the weapon directly toward the first orb. The organic veins helped some of the energy to be converted but nothing could stop the channeled energy. Rocks exploded in a trail leading to the buffer orb. A fraction of lightning was converted to mana in this orb from the veins and the lightning struck the orb. The buffer orb was quickly overloaded with energy and mana. Without enough time to even speak or think the buffer orb exploded. More of the lightning was actually buffered thanks to this sacrifice. All the braided veins were burned away leading all the way back to Sakura’s hands.

            Sakura regained her senses and the first things she felt was some pain. The more seconds that ticked by the more she could feel. One hand was completely burned off clear up to her forearm, and the other hand was fried to a stub. But the largest damage was blown in her ribs and out her back. A portion of the buffer orb was turned into a projectile weapon as well as small fragments of stones were turned into shotgun like projectiles.