Ascension
Every pelt of rain against his face felt like a cinder block slamming full force into him. The sky above him looked like the swirling eye of a hurricane straight out of hell. Directly in the center it glowed red, menacingly.
Eli struggled back to his feet with every ounce of willpower he could muster. The last impact his body took almost embedded him into the stone where he now stood.
The rain kept him down, gravity its greatest weapon against him. Each drop feeling like it literally weighed a hundred pounds each. He quickly outgrew his patience for the skywielder's magic.
"Mother fucker!" Eli bellowed toward the sky.
He grit his teeth and pushed his feet into the ground with all his might. Eli launched upward into the sky. The shockwave of his acceleration exploded outward with a massive concussive boom, instantly vaporizing the rain around him.
"I've got you." He ground out through his clenched teeth. His body was vibrating with tension. "I've fucking got you."
As he flew straight up, breaking the sound barrier multiple times, his eyes locked on to the red abyss, centered above him.
Eli let his eyes snap to pure, total white, creating a new medium to see through which enhanced his vision. He could suddenly see the actual serpentine skeleton of the storm swirling above him.
Not only was it not a real storm, no. This colossal demon was actually a powerful enemy of Eli's for as long as he can remember.
He focused harder on his target. The skeleton's head could finally be made out between overlapping coils of whispy bones that seemed to phase in and out of each other.
Eli thought this huge coiling basilisk of a storm was a fucking joke that lost all its humor long ago. Countless lives perished. So much destruction and loss by this bastard's cruelty.
The creature's head turned and Eli could see his cold solid black eyes focus on him. The horned dragon skull seemed to smile as he launched himself downward.
Eli and the dragon were on a direct collision course with each other. The massive beast let out an ear shredding roar as he honed in on Eli. With his mouth still open, Eli could see the red hot glow of his fire breath forming in his throat.
He knew he had to end this now or else he may not survive the dragon's breath. He pushed every bit of left over energy he could grab on to, and shoved it all down toward the earth.
Eli grit his teeth as he blasted through the sky towards the dragon faster than he's ever flown before. The look of sudden surprise in the dragon's eyes didn't go unnoticed. Within only a few more seconds they collided.
Eli's fist smashed straight through the dragon snout with a sickening crack. He flew straight through his skull as he clenched his eyes shut, trying to avoid any bone shards from puncturing his eye sockets.
The sky itself shouted with thunder as Eli was blasted towards the edge of the atmosphere. The swirling black hurricane exploded across the sky. All the red from the center eye of the storm literally spilled toward the earth's surface as raining blood.
Eli's continued ascent slowed as breathing started to become a little more difficult due to the thinning atmosphere. He looked down at his handy work.
"Stupid beast...." He grunted angrily.
The sky continued its own interpretation of the Big Bang as dark clouds and raining blood started to thin out. The dragon's bones, the "heart" of the storm, must have disintegrated as Eli saw zero signs of the fragments anywhere.
He focused his energy, and willed himself to fall with gravity. Within moments, he was hurtling back toward earth like a flaming missile coursing through the atmosphere's resistance. Upon landing, the ground shook heavily as it cratered underneath him.
Eli's muscles swelled and tightened, surging with intense blood flow. The landing was rougher than a meteor slamming into the ground, yet his body took it like a champ. He simply stood and looked around, taking in his surroundings.
"Hmm. That might've been a little too easy. I was expectin' more of a fight from Taikow. The dragon was a cunt, but I can't deny his power." Eli mumbled to himself as he rubbed his chin.
A few more moments of waiting and the swirling black hurricane showed no more signs of ever existing. The sky came out to shine with its natural indigo and baby blue hues. The sun shined brilliantly to warm Eli's skin in between the breezes of cool crisp air.
Eli took a few seconds to feel the utter calmness around him. To him, nothing was better than engaging with nature.
Suddenly, a tiny hummingbird zipped to a stop right in front of Eli's face. It just hovered there, creating its signature purr of its wings.
Eli chuckled. "Something I can do for you?" His deep, boomy voice slightly startling the tiny bird. He looked around to scan the vast expanse of green rolling plains and saw no other animals garnering for his attention.
The fluorescent green and purple hummingbird zipped forward slightly, inching closer to Eli's nose. Eli held out his hand as an offer to rest on. The bird eagerly accepted and perched itself on his index finger.
"Curious, aren't you..." Eli smiled. "Did that mean old monster scare you?"
The hummingbird chirped succinctly.
"Yeah?" He laughed. "And you actually know what I'm saying?"
The bird quickly hovered and flew in a tight circle before landing on his finger again. Then it proceeded to whistle with a tight vibration sound.
"Huh. No shit. Well I'm glad I could help get rid of him for you. He's been a thorn in my asshole for the past...uhh...damn. I actually can't recall how long I've been dealing with him..."
A splitting headache shot through Eli's focus. He stumbled back like he got punched hard in the face.
"Fuck..." he ground out while he kneeled down. "What in the Gods' names..."
His vision started to pulse from bright white to pitch black. Just barely catching glimpses of the hummingbird floating in front of him, he tried with every ounce of willpower not to throw up his lunch.
All sound ceased.
All physical feeling of the environment around him ceased.
The hummingbird seemed to twitch back n forth in front of him, looking like it was panicking.
Eli growled as the pain intensified. Then just as he threatened to grind his teeth into powder, white hot pain flared violently in his head.
He screamed and everything went black.
----------------------------------------------
Eli shot up in his bed. His breathing was ragged and his skin and bed sheets were soaking wet.
"What the fuck...." His breathing struggled to settle down. He now obviously realized it was just a dream. But what was the intense pain? It felt too real.
He looked to his bed side table. His phone read three o'clock in the morning. He sighed and swung his feet out to stand. His feet warmed on the automatic heat sensing floor. He sighed in relief.
The crisp cool air of the room felt even colder as his sweat evaporated from his skin. He got up and walked to the bathroom. Without even glancing at a switch, the sleek stainless interior lit up with gentle LEDs as the motion sensors activated.
Eli intended to start brushing his teeth to get ready for the day, but upon focusing on the retina scanning health evaluator in the mirror, the heads up display revealed his levels were a little off.
His cortisol was showing higher than normal. Heart rate elevated to over a hundred twenty beats per minute. Eyes were bloodshot and pupils fully dilated. The apparent pulsing vascularity around his neck and temples indicated extreme stress.
"Good morning, Eli. May I suggest a..."
"Not now." Eli interrupted the soothing female voice as he stared at the mirror. "Just give me a minute."
"As you wish. Standing by."
Eli brushed his teeth and gargled some mouthwash before drying off his face with a soft plush towel.
"Alright what are we lookin' at?" Eli asked aloud.
"Oh, so you're actually ready to listen to my advice for once?" The smooth young voice tickled his ears, as she giggled with humor in her tone.
"If I had half a mind, I'd just rip you out of my brain for good" Eli grunted.
"As kinky as that sounds, my dear, I'm worried about you. Being in your head has its perks, some you should start taking advantage of more often."
He grunted in defeat. "Fine. Lay it out for me, K."
"Thank you," sounding satisfied. "Now, I was going to say you needed a REM analysis. Not only were your vitals highly elevated during dream state, but your brain activity indicated what I initially perceived as false readings, might be something else entirely."
"What? What do you mean?"
