Madhukar had... heard whispers of this creature. Of its cave in this room.
"E-Emuh?"
It was like calling for that chicken all over again.
Except this time, very, very different.
When she'd approached Kalama, it had been out of a place of... doubt. Repeated failures building up and piling into a cloudy mass, heaving its way over her head, pouring down on her every chance it got. Her need to improve, the constant itch in her paws to be moving, working, it had all culminated in that meeting.
This was something else. Something scarier. It wasn't just doubt that propelled her forward this time. It felt like... the next step. The only option, for her. Others could get by with what abilities they had. Sunny and Binh were both held down by their stones, as she was hers, but Sunny had a silver tongue, and Binh could apparently see things in the waters. Tahi couldn't fight a fly with mushrooms, but mushrooms were something Tahi could live off of with ease. And Tahi had no stone-induced disabilities. They all had peaceable skills to balance themselves. You could live a small, happy life with those kinds of skills. With kindness, with some cool water, with a constant source of food, you might be able to retire somewhere nice and secluded, and then just... exist.
Madhukar only wished her storms would allow that for her. But where she was now, with the powers, even with her growing sense of control over them-- it wasn't enough. Lightning would find her hiding away in whatever refuge she may choose. It would find her and it would take over because lightning wasn't hers yet.
"Anybo' there?"
If this was how lightning was not only generated, but controlled, and directed...
...then this was just what Madhukar had to do.
((OOC: YOU ALL ASKED FOR IT AND HERE IT IS!!! Thank you so much for the support ;;;;u;;;; hit me with your best shot))
The kitten had made it past the outskirts of the storm to find its way to Emuh's cave. That, alone, was impressive. But the fact that it was young--not fully grown--had the great black beast staring, from a distance. Calculating.
...No. It could sense the power from here. This wasn't a mistake--the young creature was actually ready to Transcend. Could it be-?
The silent flight of the enormous creature came with a crackling of frost: wisps of shivering air around it, and yet as its massive talons scratched across the stone before Madhukar in landing, this aura shifted to something else. The snap of frost became the bite of static, instead, a crackle of ice now a crackle of electricity that danced and sparked across black feathers. A pale glow lit the already-bright green eyes, and a blue electric charge gathered at the tips of the curled black horns. Behind it, the cave yawned black and empty.
"WHO-WHO'S THERE? -YOUNG, YES. YOU WISH TO TEST?" Emuh chose to forego the normal warnings, the normal threats; anything this small that had achieved such power no doubt knew the risks of being so... tiny, already.
@Madhukar
It came to her. Gargantuan. Dark. Usually when I use the analogy of an 'ominous cloud of darkness' it feels like a bit of a stretch, but in this case, were the creature looming over Madhukar in a gaseous form, it would've come as close to literal as metaphors can get. Crackling energy flared about it, something Madhukar was only familiar with when it was in the proximity of her own self. She felt tempted to try to crackle back, but no, she should save her efforts.
A booming voice overcame her ears. "Ye', I, ERM. I ah-- am Madhukar. Ye', test. I wi-- I wan' t-t' test." She was really trying to steady her voice here, but dang it was proving difficult. This atmosphere, the risks ahead, all so very real to the feline now that she was right in facing them down.
The lightning. The storm. She couldn't back down now, she couldn't retreat from their approach, because if she did, they would find her and just destroy her again and again and again. What a cruel fate for one so young.
What this 'test' was to be, Madhukar couldn't be sure. She could only hope, with all her pounding heart, that it would help more than it would hurt.
Emuh stepped aside, and then took flight, vanishing into the dark of the room beyond.
There were sounds of grinding. Shifting. From what Madhukar would be able to see, the room (perhaps the size of a large gym) was changing: stones rising and falling to create a series of steps and pillars. Metal, too, formed: metal plates covering some of the stairs or other surfaces. And cave orb-lights, lowering from the ceiling--yet none of them were on.
The end result was a room still steeped in darkness, but with metal laced throughout, and dead orb-lights above, dangling on their wires.
From somewhere deep in the cavernous depths, Emuh's voice bellowed out: "LET THE TRIAL BEGIN!"
@Madhukar
The form of the room shifted. Emuh seemed to go... somewhere. Oh they were starting now?! Was Madhukar meant to follow!?! If that were the case, it'd be a problem indeed, because she was too busy cowering as she watched everything around her morph into something even more unfamiliar. Something she wasn't quite sure she understood...
Darkness. Darkness everywhere, dark and big like Emuh. Madhukar only wished she could see what these problems were, and then it would be so much less intimidating trying to solve them. Lightning. All she had was lightning. But what was in that very word, a clue to get her out of this? Light. In lightning, there was light. A way to see, if only for a moment. It hadn't occurred to the kitten to ever test lightning out on something metallic, so she didn't know the reaction that could cause. But she did know lightning gave light. She just needed a place to aim it...
Shots in the dark, anyone? Vague metallic sheens webbed throughout the room. Whether or not Madhukar could see them might not matter. She was just trying to 'spray and pray', in a sense. Maybe summon a storm-- although, she didn't know if failing that spell and draining herself of water was really going to be helpful in this situation. No, no... lightning. She just wanted the lightning, not the water, not the clouds.
Ready... aim...
AAAAH! Fizzles! FIZZLES!! SO MANY FIZZLES-- she was probably aiming in too many places, OH NO!
((Madhukar is trying to hit some metal plates with lightning.))
In the darkness, beyond the sight of Madhukar's failed spell, came a skittering. Quiet. Rattlng. Something was moving out there--or many somethings, small somethings...
@Madhukar
Alright, okay, maybe not that many spots to aim, goodness gracious. Madhukar cautiously approached a metal plate near to where she stood. She focused on it, desperately trying to keep her breathing straight and functional as she stared hard. 'Spark. Spark. SPARK.' Just a spark, on this glowing thing, and she would feel more confident. Just a spark and she would know that she could see. If even for a moment. Just a moment would do.
This spell she often used only on her own pelt, but static could travel off of it right? She held her paw close to her target, traced a path with her eyes.
Hop, hop, hop! And the spark made it to the metal.
There was the quiet hiss of static, an invisible, tiny shock jumping to the metal plate.
It proved that the plates were, indeed, conductive--if the others were like this one, at least--but it wasn't a strong enough charge to do much more than that.
The skittering grew... louder, seeming to come now from every corner of the room, despite the hushed and quiet nature of it.
@Madhukar
Panic. Panic panic panic panic PANIC AAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Madhukar stared wildly all around her. That noise. WHERE WAS IT COMING FROM?!
Light, light, light, PLEASE!
BZZZZZT--!
Wild eyes managed to find their targets after they'd already been hit. Lightning. Lightning! Madhukar's teeth bared in this strange hybrid between grin and grimace. LIGHTNING! SHE'D DONE IT!!
That was a new spell, wasn't it?
Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:
SPIDERS
Electricity crackled... sparked... and then surged, the little cat's magic creating visible flashes as the powerful chain lightning snapped and zapped along the metal plates. For a moment, the lights above lit: bright, flaring, illuminating the space below.
...A space, full of spiders.
A number of large--not enormous, by any means, but certainly as large as Madhukar--Deer Spiders were crawling along the walls, along the sides of the caves atop the metal plates... toward the young cat. Two squealed and curled up, legs twitching, as the metal plates they stood upon were abruptly electrified--killing them. As soon as the lights flared on, the survivors paused--some skittering for the shadows at the sides of the room. There they paused, fangs dripping venom, eyes glinting malevolently as they stared at Madhukar... waiting for the darkness to return.
And return it did, the lights flickering, fading, shadows seeping back in.
1/3
@Madhukar