Ghostly particles danced as the blinding fury of the lightning faded from Leon's retinas.
He stood there, gasping, reduced to the drumming roar of the rain and the smell of his own singed hair.
The black hoodie was gone, vaporized into a gritty, ashen paste that clung to his skin like filthy hide.
Steam rose from his shoulders where the rain hit superheated flesh.
"Fuck!" he cursed and spat onto the churning mud at his feet.
"That was too close – too damn close." He scrubbed at his arms, the ash smearing into grey streaks.
The rain hammered down like a punishing torrent, turning the academy grounds into a shallow, rushing river.
The datapad in his hand flickered stubbornly to life – its screen having a spiderweb of cracks from the top-left corner.
It glowed in a sickly, green, and static-yellow through the fractures.
"Fuck this!" he frowned. "I nearly died, and you're showing me I've failed to complete the task?!"
