Thunder And Rain

The woman rushed at me with a thunderous kick. There was no time for me to react — before I knew it, her heeled sole had landed perfectly on my chest, along with a pain so sharp it almost felt like my gut was pierced right through. I spurt out a gush of blood as my body flew without restraint, gliding over the scorching sands.

But I didn’t get so much of a chance to rest. Before I could even sense the blazing heat on my back, another boom of thunder echoed through the air, and the woman had already appeared before me again. This time, she grabbed me by the collar and threw me up in the air with all her might. My body left her arms like an arrow off a bow, blasting through the wind with a trail of sandy air behind me.

Another boom, and she was now behind me. Another kick to my back, and I was flying down as fast as I was flying up. But that was only the beginning.

With each thunder strike, the woman flashed in another direction. With each of her sudden appearances, I was hit through a different direction, flying away like a ragdoll.

Up. Down. Left. Right. Repeat.

I could feel my bones shattering with every strike. I was only alive up to this point because of the scales that grew along with me — with each hit, they might come off as easily as a flake, but they managed to grow back in an instant, long before the woman could even land a second strike.

However, even those accursed scales could only hold on for so long. After a dozen strikes or so, the number of scales that had fallen off my body was about as much as the sand in the desert. And yet, my opponent showed no signs of stopping.

I couldn’t even get a line in. In fact, if she had wanted to do so, she could have broken my jaw right away. But she was only aiming at my torso — in other words, my vitals. Thankfully, I could feel that the scales were the thickest there, and thanks to them, I wasn’t in too much of a life-threatening situation.

Well, in the sense that I was alive, at least.

When I touched the ground for the last time (in the most humiliating way, with my head planted straight into the sand), there was a final sound of thunder. Before I knew it, the woman in armor had already grabbed me by the ankle and lifted me straight into the air, raising her hand up enough for my head to face her chest.

Normally, one would think that it was impossible for a regular human to have arms as long as that. However, she was anything but a normal human.

Armor aside, the woman was floating in the air, beneath her feet were two round, dark clouds, each of them occasionally flashing a small lightning strike of their own. Like a pair of roller-skates, but a few hundred times more voltage and sparks.

The first drop of rain fell from the sky. Then the second. The third. Soon enough, it was pouring — a rare scene in this sort of desert.

“Tch. Was I too late?”

The woman sounded. She was not talking to me, that part was certain. And almost immediately, I could tell why.

Normally, when you were walking out in the summer sun, having a bit of rain served wonders as a remedy for the heat. This case was no exception, except the effect was much, much more prevalent for me.

It was as if I was revived, in quite the most literal sense. My broken bones snapped and healed in a flash. All of my open wounds closed in a blink of an eye. The blood stuck on my body and clothes dried off and was washed away in a flash, cleansing both my body and mind.

However, that sensation was only for a brief moment. For in turn…

“Arghhhh!”

My arms, legs, and torso all felt like they were on fire after the initial cooling. When the previously open wounds closed, new ones burst out of nowhere, sending another gush of my blood outside like a stream. These weren’t normal wounds, however — they were focused: three evenly spaced out on each of my arms, one on each of my ankles, and I could feel six on my back, split into two vertical lines.

From the open wounds, hard spikes arose. They bore the same gleam of obsidian blue as the rest of my scales, but I could tell that they were a lot tougher — more like my claws or teeth than simple scales. My eyes grew blurrier, to the point that I couldn’t make out the features of the person before me anymore. But on the other hand, I could see something else.

Waves. All sorts of different waves, in different colors, all coming from the figure before me. There were places that were green, some bearing yellow, and some — like the lines on her arms, going straight to her heart, for instance — had a bright red color.

“Infra…red…” I unconsciously slipped.

“So you’re aware,” she spoke, raising her arm for a final strike.

I steeled myself, bracing for the impact.

However, as the final boom of thunder ensued, something else within me also awakened.

It was a move purely on instinct. But it was enough for the moment.

Putting all my strength into my back, I attempted to sit up from being hanged upside down. As my back curled, the spikes behind me launched themselves at the woman with the speed of a bullet. If didn’t do anything to her — they even broke as soon as they came into contact with her armor — but that much was already enough.

Her grip loosened on my ankle. And it was time for me to strike.

I spun myself as hard as I could. My other leg, which was free in the air, along with my spiked ankle, created a natural blade that cut straight onto the face of the woman’s armor. This time, the impact was enough — I could hear the sound of grinding metal, as well as sparks coming from behind me. The woman, in turn, had no choice but to drop her hold on me, which was the perfect time for me to regain my footing.

Landing on all four, I breathed a deep breath to catch up with the tension. A quick glance over my arms could tell that my scales had indeed become harder and shinier, while the spikes that I had launched from before had all grown back.

I stuck out my tongue again. This time, there was no ordinary human tongue awaiting me.

It was thin, long, and had split ends. A genuine snake tongue.

“Damn it, I knew it would be like this.”

Now it was clear — whatever I had right now, it was responsible for my transforming into this snake monster. But because of that, my strength and regeneration had long surpassed that of a normal human. The proof was right here — after that kind of beating, I was still alive and kicking.

In fact, I hadn’t felt as good as this in a long while.

I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensation of rain on my body. Yeah… that hit the spot. It was just the right amount of chill, just the right moisture.

“How… thirsty…”

My throat was parched. I couldn’t figure out why. It suddenly became dark too.

But I didn’t need to worry about anything.

After all… my prey was right in front of me.

“Yeah, it’s time to hunt. Isn’t that right… Indra!”