Night pressed against the Academy like a living thing.
The dormitory halls were silent, the kind of silence that felt watched. Moonlight filtered through the narrow windows in pale ribbons, painting Elias's room in cold silver.
He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the crawling sensation beneath his skin.
It didn't work.
The itch deepened into a burn. The burn sharpened into a pulse. His veins glowed faintly, a dark, bruised violet that throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
Then the pain hit.
It wasn't sharp. It wasn't sudden. It was inevitable, a slow, crushing pressure from the inside out, as if something enormous was trying to push its way through his bones.
Elias curled in on himself, teeth clenched.
"Not now… please…"
The voice inside him stirred, ancient and patient.
"This is your nature. Do not resist."
His breath hitched. "What's happening to me?"
"You molt. As all serpents of the abyss must."
His skin tightened. Then split.
A thin crack opened along his forearm, glowing like molten amethyst. Elias slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the scream as the crack widened, peeling back a strip of skin that curled away like burnt paper.
He fell off the bed, hitting the floor hard.
The molt accelerated.
Lines of light raced across his chest, his back, his legs. His skin tore in branching patterns, each split revealing new flesh beneath — darker, smoother, marked with faint iridescent scales that shimmered like oil on water.
His bones shifted.
His muscles tightened, then relaxed with a sickening ripple.
His senses exploded outward he could hear the heartbeat of a student three rooms away, the flutter of a moth outside the window, the distant crash of waves against the cliff far below.
He wasn't just changing.
He was awakening.
The hunger roared to life, a hollow ache that demanded essence, demanded life, demanded more.
Elias pressed his forehead to the cold stone floor, panting, trembling, trying not to scream.
Minutes passed.
Or hours.
Time meant nothing inside the pain.
Finally, finally the glow dimmed. The cracks sealed. The last fragments of old skin fell away, leaving Elias sprawled on the floor, drenched in sweat, surrounded by the remnants of what he used to be.
He lifted a shaking hand.
His new skin was smooth, dark, subtly scaled. Stronger. Colder. Alive in a way that terrified him.
He wasn't human anymore.
Not fully.
A soft knock broke the silence.
Elias froze.
The door creaked open.
A girl stepped inside, tall, silver‑haired, her golden eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. She moved like a predator who knew exactly where she stood in the food chain.
Seraphine Vex.
Elias scrambled to hide the shed skin, but Seraphine's gaze had already locked onto it.
Her expression didn't show fear.
It showed fascination.
"You really are changing," she whispered, stepping closer. "I felt your aura spike from across the dormitory. It was… overwhelming."
Elias backed away, heart pounding. "You shouldn't be here."
Seraphine ignored him. She crouched beside a fragment of his old skin, lifting it delicately between two fingers. The scales caught the moonlight, shimmering with abyssal purple.
"This isn't python," she murmured. "Not even close."
Elias swallowed hard. "What do you want?"
Seraphine looked up at him, eyes bright with something dangerous.
"I want to know what you're becoming."
She stood, stepping closer until she was only a breath away.
"And whether I should fear you… or follow you."
Elias's blood hummed. His new skin tingled. The hunger whispered.
Seraphine smiled — slow, sharp, curious.
"Sleep well, Elias Thorn," she said, turning toward the door. "Tomorrow, the Academy will test you again. And I want to see what happens when you stop pretending to be weak."
The door clicked shut behind her.
Elias stared at the darkness, his pulse echoing in his ears, his new skin glowing faintly beneath the moonlight.
He didn't know what he was becoming.
But he knew this:
He would never be the same again.