The car tore through the streets, engine roaring as it cut through the night.
Inside, chaos.
Everyone was on edge, sweating, shouting, breathing too fast.
Fear hung thick in the air, suffocating.
"Zeven!"
"How is he?!"
Matthew's hands tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.
He didn't dare look back.
"Ugh!"
Zeven's body jerked violently in the back seat.
"He can't breathe!" Ozias shouted, panic breaking through his voice.
"Matthew, he's choking!"
"If this keeps up..."
Kael swallowed hard, his voice barely steady.
"...he won't make it."
"Open the windows!" Matthew yelled.
"Help him breathe!"
Cold air rushed inside, but it did nothing.
Zeven gasped, each breath sharper than the last.
His chest rose and fell unevenly, like his body had forgotten how to function.
Pain.
Too much pain.
Still, he forced the words out.
"Where...?"
His voice was barely a whisper.
He struggled again, forcing air into his lungs.
"Where... are you taking me...?"
"Don't talk" Kael said quickly.
"I'm taking you to the hospital" Matthew added, his voice tense.
"Just hold on, brother. We're almost there."
Zeven's fingers twitched weakly, his body feeling hot as if he were burning, melting from the inside.
"No..."
A pause.
A breath that felt like it might be his last.
"Not... the hospital..."
Then he passed out from the pain.
Silence fell inside the car.
Matthew's grip tightened.
"...Are you serious?" he muttered.
No answer came, only the sound of Zeven struggling to breathe.
Matthew exhaled sharply.
"...As you wish, brother."
The car changed direction.
Minutes passed.
Then...
Something changed.
Zeven's body started shaking.
At first, it was subtle.
Then violent.
His back arched, muscles tensing unnaturally as heat began radiating from his skin.
"What the hell?!" Dak pulled his hands back slightly.
"He's burning!"
Zeven's skin grew hotter by the second.
Too hot.
No human body could reach that temperature.
His breathing turned erratic, his eyes slowly darkening black, swallowing the color little by little.
"...This isn't normal," Ozias said under his breath.
No one replied.
They already knew.
The car stopped abruptly.
"We're here!"
Matthew jumped out first, rushing to open the door.
"Help me, now!"
Dak and Kael moved immediately, grabbing Zeven carefully.
"Take his legs! Careful!"
Even through their clothes, the heat was unbearable.
"Damn it, he's getting hotter!"
"Move!"
They rushed inside.
"Put him on the couch!" Matthew ordered, already heading upstairs.
"I'll prepare the bathtub with cold water!"
Dak nodded.
"Got it!"
"What happened to him?" Dak asked, his voice filled with worry.
"Why is he like this?"
"...I don't know."
Ozias answered honestly.
Hearing them made Kael think about something.
That fire inside him... he should've died from it already.
How is he still alive?
Is it related to what happened in the bathroom?
He didn't know what to think anymore.
He was trying to find an answer for everything that had happened, but he couldn't.
And he could feel it.
Something was changing.
Something was happening.
Or was going to happen.
And that was the scariest part.
"Water, here!"
Ozias rushed back, handing Kael a glass.
"Hold him" Kael said.
Dak lifted Zeven slightly, supporting his body.
"Slowly..."
The water touched his lips.
Zeven's eyes fluttered open.
Barely.
"Haa..."
His breath came out ragged and uneven.
His whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out, like he was melting.
"Do you feel better?" Dak asked quietly.
"...I'm fine" Zeven whispered, hardly trying not to faint.
A lie.
They all knew it.
"The bathtub's ready!" Matthew called from upstairs.
"Bring him!"
Kael grabbed his right arm.
Dak grabbed his left.
"Careful on the stairs" Ozias said, staying close behind.
Step by step, they moved upward.
Each second felt heavier than the last.
Inside the bathroom, steam already lingered faintly in the air.
"Hurry!" Matthew urged.
They lowered Zeven toward the tub.
Matthew was taking his clothes off.
"Don't you see?" Matthew snapped when someone hesitated.
"I'm trying to help him!"
No one argued.
They quickly stripped off his shirt, leaving only his boxers.
The heat coming off his body was suffocating.
Everyone who touched him felt their hands burning.
Even the air around him felt distorted.
"...This is insane" Ozias whispered, turning his face away.
The others stayed frozen, watching.
Not understanding.
Not able to look away.
"Dak, help me." Kael said.
"We're putting him in."
"Got it."
"Ugh!!"
"He is hot as fuck!!"
Dak stated while grabbing him.
They lowered him slowly.
Closer.
Closer.
The moment his skin touched the water...
"SSSSSSSS!"
Steam exploded upward.
The water began to hiss violently, bubbling as if it had been poured over burning metal.
"What the...?!"
"It's boiling?!" Matthew stepped back in shock.
"No..."
Matthew's eyes widened.
"That's impossible..."
Zeven's body tensed.
His eyes snapped open.
Completely black.
Like an abyss.
Like an infinite darkness.
Like darkness itself.
Not even a bit of light remained in them.
"This...!"
Ozias froze in fear upon seeing the eyes.
"Oh shit!!!"
"Guys!!"
"Do you see what I'm seeing?!!"
Dak asked the others, scared.
Kael, who was right beside him, was also completely terrified.
But he turned and looked at Matthew, who was equally shocked.
"Haaaa..."
Everyone looked at Zeven, who was in the water struggling to breathe.
"Haaaa..."
"What... do we do?"
Dak asked, trembling.
But then...
"ARGHHHHH!"
An inhuman, raw scream got everyone's attention.
Zeven.
Crying out with a desperate, trembling voice, as if he hardly had any voice left.
"Splash!"
Matthew moved toward him, trying to do something.
"Stop!" Kael yelled.
"Why?" Matthew asked desperately.
"You can't help him."
"This isn't normal!"
"Right?"
He looked at them.
No one spoke.
Everyone was silent.
"But..."
Matthew tried to say something.
Ozias stopped him.
"Let's just wait and see. We could hurt him."
"Just watch him, but don't touch him."
Everyone reluctantly agreed.
They all took a step back.
"Did you observe something, Kael?"
Ozias asked, looking at him with serious eyes.
"I think it's related to what happened back at Raven's... in the bathroom."
Kael finally spoke.
Matthew, who had been silent until now, remembered.
"The eyes..."
He said quietly.
Hearing him made everyone look toward him.
"The eyes?" Ozias asked.
Then Matthew and Kael explained everything that had happened back at Raven's.
"I see..."
Ozias said, as if understanding something.
"Why didn't you guys tell us?!"
Dak yelled angrily.
"Well..."
Kael didn't know what to say.
"Sorry, but that was what the situation asked for."
"So stop. We can discuss this later."
"We should pay attention to Zeven now."
Matthew's words brought everyone's attention back to the bathtub.
Zeven was still struggling to breathe.
He wasn't screaming anymore.
Then, under everyone's eyes, his body began to change.
"Ughh..."
Zeven groaned in pain.
Not like before.
Different.
"Something is changing about him!" Matthew said.
"How is this possible...?"
Dak asked, shocked.
His mouth hung open.
His eyes widened.
His skin was moving.
Muscles spasmed beneath it.
"Looks like his muscles are moving and changing..."
Ozias stated in disbelief.
The boys couldn't understand what was happening.
His muscles became more defined.
Stronger.
Larger.
They stretched beneath his skin as if his body were transforming into something entirely different.
His hair looked like it was growing longer.
Hot air radiated from him like a scorching sun.
His bones cracked.
Shifted.
As if they were being remade.
Slowly, his body calmed.
The storm seemed to pass.
But the waves it left behind remained.
Signs that an even bigger storm was coming.
Inside the bathroom, the boys stood shoulder to shoulder, staring at the bathtub.
Looking at it as if they had discovered something.
Or someone.
Zeven looked different.
Calm.
As if he were returning to normal.
But there was nothing normal about him anymore.
He was taller now.
Almost two meters.
His hair fell over his neck, partially covering his eyes.
His body looked perfect.
Stronger.
Sharper.
As if a god had descended into the mortal world.
Zeven shuddered.
"Splash."
His foot moved slightly.
"He is gonna wake up!" Matthew said.
"This is... crazy."
"Look at him" Kael whispered.
"Hahaha... crazy."
Dak laughed nervously.
"I wonder..."
Ozias wanted to say something.
But before he could...
"Splash."
Zeven moved in the water.
Everyone focused on him.
Slowly, he raised an arm and grabbed the side of the bathtub.
Then he opened his eyes.
Bright blue.
Like sapphires.
Not human.