First memory | Sound and touch
It was scorching; the air itself seemed to burn. The entire world was on fire, concentrating in the roar of a growing inferno somewhere before him. It was a maelstrom, terrifying; it was going to kill everything for miles around. He knew it. He knew he had to stop it.
Sheer agony raced up his arm, from his hand--wrapped around the familiar pommel of his revolver--to his shoulder and back. He didn't try to fight it in this time, the pain or the energy that built and forced out and met its equal, maelstrom to maelstrom, each cancelling out the other.
He breathed in the aftermath, shaking, spent, proud. Proud that he had done this, that he had done it right.
"I didn't create these weapons to be wasted like that." The voice was young, male, angry, and he didn't hear it in the air. He heard it in his mind.
"Using them this way is the only thing that gives them any meaning at all." He spoke as the other man spoke, mind to mind, knowing he would hear.
He could feel the other man's smile. They were a part of each other. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"
He smiled in return. "I've made my decision."
Now it began again, the building energy from the man he could sense somewhere before him, the answering energy in his own arm, the roar of a power that could reduce the world around them to nothing.
"You're not a human being," the man told him. "You're a plant."
"I know that."
"You're a superior being."
"I disagree."
It hurt terribly. It wasn't just the agony in his arm, though that was bad enough. It hurt to point this weapon at the man in front of him. Knowing all that he had done, knowing what he had to do, it still hurt.
"You're wrong about this, ****!"
"I won't make the same mistake twice!"
The power roared, the air burned around them. He let the energy release.
Sheer agony raced up his arm, from his hand--wrapped around the familiar pommel of his revolver--to his shoulder and back. He didn't try to fight it in this time, the pain or the energy that built and forced out and met its equal, maelstrom to maelstrom, each cancelling out the other.
He breathed in the aftermath, shaking, spent, proud. Proud that he had done this, that he had done it right.
"I didn't create these weapons to be wasted like that." The voice was young, male, angry, and he didn't hear it in the air. He heard it in his mind.
"Using them this way is the only thing that gives them any meaning at all." He spoke as the other man spoke, mind to mind, knowing he would hear.
He could feel the other man's smile. They were a part of each other. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"
He smiled in return. "I've made my decision."
Now it began again, the building energy from the man he could sense somewhere before him, the answering energy in his own arm, the roar of a power that could reduce the world around them to nothing.
"You're not a human being," the man told him. "You're a plant."
"I know that."
"You're a superior being."
"I disagree."
It hurt terribly. It wasn't just the agony in his arm, though that was bad enough. It hurt to point this weapon at the man in front of him. Knowing all that he had done, knowing what he had to do, it still hurt.
"You're wrong about this, ****!"
"I won't make the same mistake twice!"
The power roared, the air burned around them. He let the energy release.