Derrick's hand tightened around his sword, veins flexing like cords under his skin. Avin watched in guarded silence, the low hum of the marketplace dying behind him, replaced by the suffocating stillness of the alley. He drew his own sword with a metallic hiss that cut through the air, his body instinctively falling into a ready stance. The cold edge of the blade gleamed faintly under the fractured sunlight that barely reached them between the rooftops.
Then it happened.
Derrick's body started to change. His muscles twitched first, then swelled, veins crawling and pulsing like something alive beneath his skin. One by one they bulged, thick and dark, webbing across his arms and neck like molten wires. His eyes turned bloodshot, pupils narrowing to slits that glimmered with something feral.
"What the hell…" Avin muttered under his breath, watching in disbelief.
