September 9th 2012, 4:40 pm, Hickory Grove, Wisconsin
When Naomi Matthews lifted her head from off of the cool, coarse concrete it was without any recollection of how or why she had gotten there. The first images that imprinted themselves on her retinas were not decipherable to her still-foggy mind. She would later describe these first moments of lucidity as like being trapped inside an reddish-hued soap bubble, floating high in the atmosphere during an electrical storm.
When her vision cleared she saw that to her immediate right lay Jed, unconscious, with a trickle of blood oozing from a gash on his forehead. Fear gripped her heart as she rose to her knees and reached for her unresponsive husband. She felt him stir beneath her trembling hands and only then did she allow herself to turn away her gaze and take in the unfolding maelstrom about her.
Standing within the center of the shimmering, crimson bubble that now enveloped the three of them was Sage, arms extended fully to his right and left, with what appeared to be red lightning spewing from his extended palms, pooling two feet away and arching to create the bubble-shield that she now realized had saved their lives.
She took in the tranquil, almost detached, look on Sage's face before her gaze was drawn beyond the safety of their translucent shield to the heat shimmering parking lot beyond. Three indistinct figures formed a triangular perimeter around the shielded trio, each standing equidistant from each other, slowly closing the twenty yard distance separating them from their cringing quarry. They advanced, barefoot, on the asphalt with hands extended and wicked reddish lightning springing from their fingertips and lancing into Sage's mysterious force-field.
Naomi looked straight into the eyes, first, of a woman seeming to be a few years younger than herself, her blond hair trailing behind her in the afternoon breeze as she slowly advanced toward the curbed-in grass oasis where Naomi, Sage, and Jed huddled. Shifting her gaze, Naomi noted that the young woman's two partners, both male, also advanced step by agonizing step toward them, hands extended and crimson fire shooting forth.
Naomi's mind involuntarily questioned.
Returning her gaze back to Sage, she noticed for the first time that the same red-hued fire crackling around his feet that she had witnessed earlier when he reduced the pop can to liquid metal. Her eyes jerked back upward when, unexpectedly, Sage thrust his left hand even further forward and shot forth a crackling arc of fire toward the man furthest to their left, even while simultaneously maintaining the life-saving shield surrounding them. Sage's fire met this assailant's fire head-on; but instead of a stalemate, Naomi was shocked to see Sage's fire methodically pushing the other's crackling stream backward - the brilliant arc from Sage's hands appearing to burn with a noticeably brighter intensity than his foes, just as she also noticed the fire beneath Sage's feet shone with a brilliance that dwarfed the fire that leapt from the asphalt to the attacker's feet.
Naomi suddenly realized the significance of Sage's choice of location to reveal his powerful secret to Jed and herself. The mysterious fire was coming from the ground, from under the earth. It occurred to her that Sage and their three assailants were only conduits, or relays, through which the reddish fire passed through and that this was why they all were barefoot. The fewer the impediments that the fire had between earth and feet, the more powerful the conduit's connection to the strange element.
Shoes, asphalt or anything else that the fire had to pass through weakened its intensity. On the green grass island, Sage held the metaphorical high ground ... for now. All at once, the significance of the assailant's forward progress toward the lone patch of grass upon which they were held at bay now became all too clear to Naomi.
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She felt Jed stir beside her and looked to see him rise to his knees. She reached out to hold him and directed his gaze to the drama enfolding all around them. The shock of awe that Naomi had been experiencing gave way to fear at the precariousness of their predicament. The only thing keeping both she and Jed from being turned to ash was Sage's bubble; and the focus of his power was diffused among three different foes.
Both Jed and Naomi huddled together, mesmerized as Sage's lightning continued to advance toward the man on their left. His forward progress was now halted under Sage's intense barrage, but as Naomi turned her head quickly from side to side, to her dismay she noticed that the young woman and second male were still advancing, now only ten yards from the curb that divided earth from asphalt.
Sage must also have been aware of the potential of what would happen if any of the three should reach the grass, for the brilliance of the fire beneath his feet intensified even further, as did the crimson lightning spewing from his hand until, driving back entirely the weak, opposing fire of his enemy, it reached the man in seconds and engulfed him from head to toe in torrents of living flames. One stricken cry was all that came from the overcome man before he exploded in a flash of blinding light.
Naomi was forced to close her eyes against the light, but when she blinked back sight, one instant later, the man was gone, reduced to a pile of gray ash that could be seen blowing across the lot in the evening breeze.
With that, Sage turned his attention to the second man to his left. For the second time, a brilliant red arc shot in the direction of his foe, meeting the asphalt-weakened fire of the man and halting his forward progress. In half the time it took his fire to overwhelm the fire of the first attacker, Sage drove his fire through that of the second until, in a blinding haze, the second man was overwhelmed and disappeared from sight. Naomi released the breath in her lungs that she seemed to have been holding for hours.
"We're going to be OK ..."
Suddenly the shield surrounding Jed, Sage, and her disappeared and a searing rush of hot air assaulted her lungs, causing her to catch in mid breath.
Finding herself, mysteriously, lying back on the ground, she felt Jed's strong hands grabbing her and dragging her backward. As she quickly regained her feet and stumbled in the direction of the parking garage as Jed continued to pull at her, Naomi strained to turn her head back in the direction from which they had come. She stifled a cry, for she saw that the blonde young woman had indeed reached the grass and that Sage was down on one knee attempting to raise himself upright once again. The bubble shield was gone, apparently upon the arrival of the woman onto the grass, and two distinct arcs of brilliant lightning spewed from each of the two combatants' palms and fingertips meeting in the no-man's-land between them. Sage regained his feet, but despite the intensifying once again of the fire beneath him, no advantage could be gained.
Jed and Naomi arrived at the parking garage and stationed themselves behind a concrete barrier, peering over the top to take in the horrifying spectacle unfolding before them. Naomi prayed fervently that Sage would be delivered as she watched the young woman take yet another step closer to him, fire lancing out of her in crimson thunderbolts, now a faint smile tracing her lips. Sage's face, once a mirror of placid calm, now was twisted in anguish, a slight trickle of blood running crimson from his nose.
A siren could be heard wailing in the distance. In the confusion of the melee, Naomi hadn't even stopped to consider the fact that they were in a public parking lot, albeit at a slow time of day. She looked past the two remaining combatants to see a handful of stunned onlookers gathered at the hospital doors, gawking with looks of disbelief. She was drawn back to the battle when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sage fall back into a squatting position.
All of a sudden, Sage dropped his hands.
"No," Jed and Naomi screamed in unison!
In that instance, the female's fire completely engulfed Sage. But, instead of reducing him to ash, Naomi was shocked to see the old man lunge forward from his squatting position, hands extended, while a red-hued shield like the one he had used earlier to gently push back Jed and Naomi this time swiftly hurled toward his attacker. It overran her incoming stream of fire and violently pushed her backwards, lifting her off of the ground, leaving her to drop painfully onto the asphalt ten yards away. With her connection to the earth severed, Sage pressed forward his advantage once again, lightning bolts flashing. The pitiful resistance the woman was able to mount lying on her back on the sunbaked asphalt was no match for the blazing torrents of fire hurled toward her from Sage's hands and in a moment's time, her powdered remains, too, were blowing across the parking lot, carried swiftly away on the afternoon breeze.
