Cole vs Ramarro

  Ramarro pointed at Cole and connected to him. Suddenly Cole was submerged in the vast ocean of Ramarro’s power. He could not feel or hear or see. He could barely think. The power was all around him, trying to force a way into him. With all of his might, he held it off.

  What could he do now? He had not sought this connection and had no idea how to break it. He had reached out to connect to others on many occasions. This time Ramarro was holding him.

  Holding him.

  Although overwhelming power enveloped Cole, the aggressive power sustaining the connection came from a specific source. Cole desperately focused all of his attention in that direction, and the connection from Ramarro began to feel like a lifeline in a storm-tossed sea. As power surged around him, Cole clung to the connection and traced it back to a blazing nexus.

  There was no time for planning. Cole attacked the nexus, determined to rend it apart. The effort proved too great, like trying to pick up an ocean liner while swimming beside it. He began trying to crush it, but the surface felt too dense, as if he were trying to pummel his way into a bank vault with his fists.

  Ramarro’s power closed in around him, constricting, intensifying. Cole knew that no matter how fiercely he resisted, it would soon overwhelm him. He would be consumed. Ramarro would escape. His friends would die. The world would perish.

  But it had not happened yet. This was his only chance. Ignoring the hostile power encroaching from every side, Cole stopped trying to damage the nexus and instead reached into it. The effort was excruciating, but as he pushed with all he had, he felt beneath the surface. Having established that contact, Cole drew upon his hopes, his fears, and his ardent desire to survive, and hit the nexus with everything he had, tearing and shredding with the frantic energy of desperation.

  Explosive shock waves quaked through the power around him.

  Sharpening his focus like a blade, like a drill, Cole reached deeper into the damaged nexus and savaged it again. Everything around him roared in agony.

  The power suddenly withdrew.

  Cole stood again in the courtyard, his faculties restored.

  Down on one knee, head bowed, Ramarro clutched his chest. Then he looked up, fury in his gaze.

  Impossible! The word struck Cole’s mind like an explosion.

Chapter 33