The Primal War : First Elements Saga Book 1

Chapter 13: Riding the Lightning

To make their impromptu plan work, Doug had to first build an electrical charge sufficiently powerful to do the job with his abilities. Normally that would take several minutes as he cycled through the process to first strip electrons from ambient air molecules then store them in his body, carefully working through a space to gather everything that was available.

The three Descendants however, didn’t have that kind of time. They needed to kickstart Doug’s ability to gather electricity so they could attack in the next few minutes, not a half an hour from now. And that meant having him tap into the local power grid.

“I see overhead cables for the electric trams outside,” the lean air primal indicated as he peered out the windows facing the street where the Null Faction forces had set up their rudimentary fortification. Doug’s eyes then narrowed.

“Got it. The flow of electricity in the cable.” He looked over his shoulder at Marcus and Jay.

“Say the word and I’ll divert it out of the cable into the cars.” Marcus nodded and looked over at Jay.

“You got the metal in the cars?” he asked. Eyes closed, Jay nodded.

“Good. I’m going to reach through you to begin heating the metal. Just before it begins to radiate and visibly distort, let me know and I’ll pause.” He then looked back at Doug.

“That’s when I’ll give you the signal to charge the cars, Doug. Got it?”

“Copy. Awaiting your signal,” Doug said as his eyes lit up from inside with his abilities coming online to take hold of the surging electricity in the thick, overhead cable outside.

Nodding, Marcus turned back to Jay.
“Ready, bud?” he asked and Jay jerked a quick nod.

“Hit me,” he growled.

Reaching out, the fire primal put a hand on the older Descendant’s shoulder. And almost immediately felt Jay’s connection to the metal outside. Revving up his core, Marcus then used that connection to send a steady stream of fiery energy into the metal, the sensation much like pouring molten metal into a ceramic mold to form a statue.

With that kind of power pouring through the earth elemental, it didn’t take long before Jay had sweat pouring from his exposed skin.

“We’re close,” he panted after a couple more seconds. “A couple more degrees and it will visibly start to redden and buckle.”

Marcus’s expression tightened with resolve.
“That’s your cue, Doug,” he said, pausing his surge of thermal energy into Jay’s connection to the steel in the armored cars.

“Light ‘em up!”

Nodding in acknowledgement, the air primal looked out the window. And, for a brief moment, electricity danced around his eyes as he connected to the powerful current in the overhead trolly cable. Then they all felt the hairs on their skin stand up as the air primal diverted the flow and it arced from the cable to the nearest armored car with an audible ‘crunch’ of discharge.

A heartbeat later the screaming started as, with the armored cars placed fairly close together to form a barricade, the electricity that Doug was pouring into the armored car closest to the cable started jumping from car to car. As it did, it filled the space between them with high voltage tendrils, which danced down the sides towards the ground, arcing back and forth as they did. Tendrils that bit into the crouching Soulless using the armored cars for cover, electrocuting them with lethal voltage and sending hard spasms through their bodies.

Hearing that, Marcus sent a hard surge of pyrothermic energy down the connection Jay had to the metal. Then the earth primal was grimacing.

“Melting point reached!” he grunted. “Folding the walls down and encasing the Soulless stunned by the shock in melting metal now!”