S5 Ep.2: Adjustments

[suspenseful music] The giant snake-like face loomed over me.

If a reptile could smile, this is what it would look like, a lipless mouth twisting a scaled face.

Greens, yellows, silvers, purples all blended together as the firelight flickered around us, glinting off the smaller plate scales of the monster's face.

Massive slitted yellow eyes stared at me with such hatred.

I screamed as the coils tightened around my body, crushing as they lifted me higher.

That lipless mouth opened wide, enormous fangs glistening with venom.

A drop collected at the tip of one fang before falling to the floor, so far down I couldn't hear the splash when it hit.

The entire world felt so small from up here, but the chaos wasn't so bad.

It was almost quiet.

Helicopters and fighter jets zoomed overhead, but I couldn't hear them.

One helicopter got too close and bumped into the invisible barrier, tilting and losing control as a blade struck it, shearing it and sending up sparks.

It tumbled over the unseen shield a couple more times before falling and crashing to the ground below.

"You've ruined everything." The monster's mouth didn't move, but the voice boomed around me.

The beast raised me higher, far too close to those fangs.

"Now I'll take what I want." The fangs flashed, and my entire body burned with pain as one of them sank deep into my body.

Suddenly, I was unraveling, coming apart at the literal seams.

My skin was some kind of textile, my fingernails stitched on, the puppet formerly known as Evan Urquhart.

I unraveled faster, and a bright green light spilled from my seams.

Threads spun off in all directions, and as the last of me came apart, I was back in my body again.

I stared at my hands, once again flesh and bone as all the pain came roaring back, the venom spreading through my veins.

That same green light flashed around us, but this time it coalesced into a mirror image of myself.

My magic.

It looked at me sadly as it floated away.

I tried to reach for it, but the thick coils of the snake pinned my arms to my sides.

"Wait! No!" I called after it.