"Do you know the gravity of what you have done?" The heavenly council elder, Aeris screamed at me.
"You've gone against the rules and interfered with the lives of the mortals!"
"He can't survive from it.." I tried to plead
"But what if he does?" Aeris interjected.
"You know he isn't like the other mortals just running around in the dark. He looks at things in a perspective higher than them. How sure are you that your measly 1 million volts killed him?"
"Cause no living being can withstand 10 million volts?" I said nonchalantly
"They're not just living being's you idiot." Aeris said hitting my head, although it didn't hurt due to the fact that I was lightning, it still hurt being talked down to like this.
I backed away, and looked on at him.
He took a deep breath and sat down on the floor cross legged, despite there being a floating chair nearby.
"Come." He said, more powerful as the voice seemed to boom and resonate with the particles in the air.
It's the kind of voice that you wouldn't want to disobey, the kind of voice you can't disobey. I was compelled to go and sit in front of him.
"Listen to me very closely, Flash." He began, drawing out every word to increase the emphasis.
"Humans aren't like other human beings. They are wired differently, to adapt, explore and learn." He took hold of my shoulder again.
Something that shouldn't even be possible due to my intangible body, yet he held me firm and strong.
"There's an old saying about them; What doesn't kill them makes them stronger.
See what happened to Crackle when they learned about fire, I would hate to make you as lifeless as that."
A threat, and one that sure did work. I remember the friendly and animated Crackle, my bud the flame lord, he mistakenly set fire to a tree to warm a human, the human was curious and set out trying to recreate that same warmth.
He finally did it, using two sticks and a stone and then it happened.
The humans had acquired the flame.
Crackle immediately was punished, his personality as a living being was stripped out and he was tossed away, doomed to always come whenever he was called by the humans, their slave forever.
"I see you got scolded by the old man." I ran into Clap, my stepbrother.
"For you to have heard I guess everyone has heard." I said solemnly.
"You got that right." He said laughing and clapping, causing huge sounds and breeze that always gave me the tingles.
Although my excitement from his claps died down as fast as it came.
"You're not flying off as I clapped? What's wrong bro?" He asked me as I was lost in thought.
"I zapped a human." I said miserably
"We're not meant to interact or interfere with humans." Clap said solemnly
"Is he dead?" He asked again.
"That, I do not know. Aeris is crackling mad at me, says I should just hope he's dead and doesn't remember anything, if not I would..." I didn't need to complete the threat. Everyone knows what happens to Lord's who get their powers mastered by humans.
"Hehehehe Don't worry about it bro." Clap said nervously, trying to encourage me.
"I won't let you be a human slave."
"Thanks mate." I said, touched by the offer, although knowing he can't do anything about it.
"So what would you do, if he is awake." Clap asked.
"Although it's practically impossible," I began, "If by some stroke of luck, he's still alive and foolish enough to tempt me with that kite again, I will strike him down myself.
I could hear the voice shouting over me, faintly and getting louder.
My sense of feeling is coming back and I could feel water on my body, rain?
"Father!!!!" My eyes burst open to see a young boy, about 12 years crying over me.
"I thought you were dead." The boy who I just realized as my son said as he grabbed onto my shirt.
"I was zapped" I remembered as the memory of flying the kite to try and collect and store electric current from lightning popped up in my mind.
"Did we do it?" I asked my son as he smiled.
"We did father, the Jar glowed very brightly, but it was too much. It blew up and the electric current hit you too, almost killing you."
I looked at my hand and saw the hairs were still standing, then I noticed the shattered jar at the corner.
"So close."
I got up from the bed on shaky feet.
"We've got to try again." I said as I walked unsteadily to the dresser holding the Leyden Jar.
"We would make a bigger and stronger jar with an even larger current holding capacity."
I faced my son who stood dutifully with my hat and coat, I smiled and spoke "Then we can capture lightning."
A year later, Benjamin and his son stood on the same field with the kite on a stormy day, yet today something was different.
He had built a small shed on the field a week before and he kept his jar in there.
A majestic Leyden Jar with a height of 4 feet, ready to capture lightning currents of up to 300 million volts.
"Everything ready?" He asked his boy at the back who was doing the final wiring.
"All set sir." He answered.
"All right then, let's go lightning hunting." Benjamin said and threw the kite.
I was flying across the sky. Finally free from the dry atmosphere and in to the cold, wet nitrogen filled air.
I heard another Clap and I knew it was my queue, with superspeed, I ran across the clouds, jumping from one to another.
Leaving a white dash across each cloud I crossed.
It was a simple game of tag I played against the wind.
I stood relishing my victory when I saw it, immediately all joy and pleasure of being in the rain had bled out of my being.
A single multicolored kite with a streamer, flying with a string in this heavy storm.
A single string holding the kite high up in the atmosphere, even above some little clouds.
Immediately I knew who it was, only one human would do it, and the cheeky being had the gall to paint it the exactly the same color.
Suddenly the kite started to go up and down, as if taunting me to do something about it.
I knew I should ignore it, that would be best but I made an oath, and I have grown much stronger since then.
My measly 10 million volts power had grown into 200.
Clap came to the scene and saw the kite.
"Don't do it Flash." Clap warned but he had already made his mind.
Flying up above and moving around, Zap gathered speed and enough energy.
To those viewing the clouds from below, it was a spectacular sight as Benjamin's son was the sole eye witness; he saw the strange pattern on the clouds.
"It's coming.." Benjamin said in excitement, "I can feel it."
I moved even faster, gathering a new record for him of 250 million volts. Clap tried stopping me but in disarray he clapped and I charged the kite.
The measly human contraption burned from the sky and there was a great flash of light down below.
I smiled content at what happened, while Clap was terrified.
"What have you done?" He screamed at me. "Why couldn't you just leave them?"
"Why should I?" I screamed back.
"They had the mind to come back looking for more, and now I gave them just that.
They're dead now." I said triumphantly.
"They're not." A terrifying voice said behind me as Aeris appeared at my back.
"What?" I asked in disbelief.
Immediately, Aeris cleared the skies of the clouds and I saw below.
The humans came out with a glass like contraption; inside it where... Lightning bolts.
"They have finally captured your lightning, it's only a matter of time before they work with it and learn to harness its power." Aeris spoke, his voice tinged with pity.
I was stunned, too stunned to speak.
"As promised, here's your punishment." Aeris began.
"Sir, if I may." Clap asked
"Speak Young Lord."
"Please can you put him under me, strip him of his title and put him to my beck and call, he's too powerful to be given to the humans." Clap offered.
I stood transfixed on the device the humans were carrying while my fate was being decided, truly I felt the energy inside to be mine, yet I felt that I had lost control of it.
"You're right." Aegir replied to Clap
"He is too powerful to be given fully to the humans. Therefore I assign him to you."
Aeris turned to me.
"You are cursed to stay within claps territory, only by him can you run around and use your powers, only by him can you come to this world."
Then as suddenly he came, he vanished.
Benjamin sat in his laboratory on another trying to perfect some calculations on his latest invention, a rod to help direct lightning.
He sat listening to the storm raging outside, no need to go storm chasing as he now had the Leyden Jar with him to dispense that little lightening boost he might need.
He stood up to look from his window at the familiar field he had faced down death numerous times in the name of science.
Suddenly there was a clap of thunder and always never far behind, running after its new master was that flash of lightning.
All images were made by me using Canva.
Link 1
Link 2
For a realistic article on Benjamin Franklin's adventure with lightning, click here