“Please don’t,” Matej begged. Vojta didn’t hear him. He was transfixed by the charred star pattern on the grass between them.
“I need you.”
His best friend’s plea inspired memories of summer camp; swimming, laughing and eating s’mores. A rumble in the distance clouds doused the nostalgia.
“I’m sorry,” Vojta comforted while his 11-year-old mind struggled to resolve an equation. Could destiny come for free? No was the answer repeating. An extended thunder roll half a mile away masked Matej’s sobs. Vojta’s skin grew hot. Doubt mixed with excitement. He forced a breath and stepped closer.
Crraaa-boom! Three lightning strikes a quarter mile off set car alarms howling. The boys jolted. They could feel the charged earth tease through their bodies.
The storm arrived above them and they gaped at its mutating, ugly black clouds, intermixing in a disgusting cauliflower-like soup. Fingers spread, hands trembling, Vojta extended his hand over the strike point. Matej cried, “Nooo!”
Vojta shouted, “Come!” The clouds responded with a menacing growl that built to a deafening hiss until a white sphere blinked from within its dark heart and let loose its awesome power.
A breath took a lifetime. Spidery legs of electricity raced down a jagged ribbon of pure blue-white light. To Vojta—silence. He watched it rocket through his hand and strike the crispened mark it’d hit so many times before. The energy shockwave was a concussive annihilation that tore through his child-aged soul, shredding his constructed identity and manufactured self. His skin; his hair; everything was decimated and all that remained was a golden yellow amoebic form interlinked with the ribbon itself. Man and light.
Indescribable pain followed. Its intensity denied petty definition and only the absolute truths of existence could be perceived inside it. The awesome weight of it crushed his consciousness until a white spot illuminated from within. Brilliant, cleansing, it consumed the pain and brought an undefinable calm and a waterfall of light. He felt the truth in his choice. As he disappeared into the Earth he watched Matej’s face open in awe, wonder and understanding.