The Crown of the Hollow Glutton settled into place, and for a moment, Adam simply was a serpentine monarch with a circlet of silent hunger gracing his brow.
Ignis circled him, her fiery eyes wide. «Wow! It looks really cool now! It suits you, Boss!»
Alice padded close, her earlier concern softened into approval. She rubbed her head against his neck, her purr a tangible vibration through his scales. «It does add a certain... regal menace. You look more complete. Like a true ruler.»
Lilith observed with her customary analytical grace. «And how does it feel, Adam? Is there a psychic weight? A compulsion?»
Adam focused inward. He could feel it—a hollow, gnawing sensation at the edge of his consciousness, not in his stomach, but in his mind. A subtle, whispering appetite for more than flesh. "I feel... a deep hunger. But not for food. It's... different. I can control it, but it's there, like a new instinct."
