The world shattered into a brilliant flash as the lightning bolt slammed into me. Time didn't slow; it fractured, each agonizing moment stretching into an eternity. I felt the searing current sear my back, then splinter into a million tiny electric tendrils burrowing deep within me.
It was a destructive power, yet it carried an intoxicating rush, a paradox of creation and ruin simultaneously filling and emptying me. I knew my body was being consumed, burning from the inside out, and that it was only a matter of time before the current's chaos rendered me powerless.
I knew my body was burning, consumed piece by piece. Still, I fought. I gathered the storm's wild energy, channeling it, shaping its destructive force with the disciplined control of my chi, trying to corral the rampaging energy within me, channeling its chaotic force for my own purpose.
Suddenly, it was as if a thousand gears had meshed perfectly. My chi surged, and then, with a profound sense of rightness, everything clicked into place. The disparate gears of my will, my body, and the raw energy of the storm aligned. A profound clarity washed over me. The power was mine to command.
This was the moment. I released my grip on my own protection, letting the destructive fire take what it would. Every last shred of focus, every ounce of my strength, was now dedicated to this final act. My death was no longer a fear—it was an inevitability I had come to terms with. The certainty of it brought an unexpected peace.
If I succeeded, this moment would become a footnote, ceasing to exist yet reborn as something else. If I failed, at least I would have died fighting, with everything I had. There was no one left to mourn me anyway.
I channeled my chi with a focus so intense I felt my very soul being pulled along with it. The strain was immense, a hair's breadth from collapse, but I held on. With a guttural roar, the words "Har Har MAHADEV!" tore from my throat, a prayer and a battle cry rolled into one.
I pushed everything I was, every ounce of power, every memory, every flicker of my being, into the endless dark abyss. I held nothing back, clinging only to the hope that I would find light on the other side.