Travis Springtail's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The chronometers shrieked, their purple lightning splitting into three jagged forks that punched through the air above Travis's head. The crowd gasped and stumbled backward. Travis felt the hair on his arms stand straight up as energy crackled through his arena. A tear opened in the sky, its edges glowing violet against the green canopy overhead. The rift widened with each pulse from the chronometers, pulling at the vines that framed his arena. Travis's measuring pole toppled sideways, its laser grid flickering out. He needed to ground this energy before the whole structure collapsed, but his equipment was the source of the problem. Shutting it down might work, or it might make the rift explode. He spotted a stone well at the edge of the arena, its metal funnel pointing skyward like it was built for exactly this moment. Travis grabbed a net of woven vines from the arena wall and sprinted toward the chronometers. The devices sparked and hissed as he wrapped them in the net, their energy arcing through the vines. He hoisted the whole bundle over his shoulder and ran for the well, feeling the heat sear through his shirt. He hurled the wrapped chronometers into the funnel. Energy poured down through the crystalline pathways carved into the bedrock, lighting them up like blue fire. The rift overhead shuddered, then sealed shut with a sound like tearing fabric in reverse. Travis collapsed on his knees beside the well, watching purple smoke rise from where his chronometers had been. The crowd stood frozen, staring at him. His best measuring equipment was gone, melted into the stone. He'd have to track his record bounce attempt with nothing but his eyes and his gut.