Transformation, Pt. 1

The humans near the lake had seen the blast—seen the demonkin drop like stones—and they ran.

Not away.

Toward the fallen.

They weren’t even knocked back. Not even while the trees had bent like reeds in a storm. It felt unfair. 

One man scrambled down the slope, frantically calling: “Babe?!” The crumpled form of a Lycan greeted Sebastian’s eyes. “Babe, are you okay? Please, gods…”

He darted right past the Count, not even a glance spared.

The man dropped to his knees beside her. She blinked up at him, golden eyes dim but… glowing?

“It’s me,” he breathed. “It’s me, it’s okay—”

Her gaze snapped to him, pupils dilated, lips quivering.

She lunged forward—and licked his face, crooning low.

He laughed, half-crying. “You scared the shit outta me.”

Footsteps pounded behind him.

A blur of motion followed—his friend, a tall man, rugged and obviously not thrilled to be here, jogged up behind him.

The woman’s head snapped.

“Hey,” the friend muttered, awkward. “Calm your girl, Sebastian. It’s Rudolf. Don’t do anything weird. I’m your ex, I get it, but—”

Teeth bared.

Muscles taut.

Her growl rose like a rattle, spine bending unnaturally. Foam began to streak her mouth.

“...No,” Mikael breathed. “Wait—Korrilea—don’t—”

Too late.

\\

The lycan pounced, dragging some poor sod down to the dirt in a blur of claws and spit and away into the bushes.

And all this while, Kael could only watch it all unfold on the ground, helpless. His gut felt awful. Like something was clawing from inside his stomach lining.

Then he felt it.

The whisper.

Not a sound, but a call in the blood. In the bones.

“Sir!!” His human soldiers stationed by the statue scrambled to protect their king. The sentiment was appreciated but… wait.

His nails were growing.

His teeth, clenching.

No, no, no, no…

“Stay back!” he cried.

But it was already happening. The ripple had hit him, too.

He turned.

The others—his soldiers—his people—

Tearing into the crowd. Sanza’s eyes glowed violet, clawing lashing outward as if she was possessed.

Human cries echoed against the cliffs.

They cry…

“HNNNRRRGGGHHH...”

And cry and cry and BLEED!!

So much blood… so much BLOOD! It had been so long!!

Kael’s knees buckled.

And he roared.

\\

Elisa knew something was wrong the moment she heard the noise—shouts, echoes, something sharp and jagged carried on the wind from near the Basin.

She almost missed the bridge. Half-built, precarious. Then she saw them.

Legion.

Three arms short of what they used to have.

With as much grace as the wind would allow, she angled downward, slicing through the current like an arrow. She touched down beside them in a sharp rustle of feathers.

They were already swatting at the air.

“Shoo! Shoo, go away, wretched thing! Away with you—AAAH!”

She shifted back to her human form, breath catching in her throat.

“Legion?”

Their gaze locked on hers—wobbling, startled.

“La—Lady Elisa?”

A walking Amalgamation, terrified of birds. That was new.

“When you’re big and tall like we are,” they muttered, still twitchy, “birds get some real nasty ideas. Most tried to turn me into a pottyh—look, never mind, it’s undignified. Let’s talk about what really matters. How the hell did you turn into…”

“That doesn’t matter. Focus, Legion,” she snapped. “What happened to you?”

Legion slumped down, heavy and trembling, like all the air had been knocked out of them.

“It didn’t have to happen,” they said softly.

She stilled.

“I begged her. Pleaded. But she just—wrapped herself up in the magickstone belts like they were some kind of armor. Said she had to send a message.” Their voice dropped lower. “By the time I realized what she was really doing...”

Their remaining hand clenched against their thigh.

“Did the best we could to wrap her like a cocoon. Miracle we are still alive…”

Elisa’s mouth tightened. “Fucking Daniel…”

Legion nodded, bitter. “We’ve got good reason to believe it’s not isolated. Our senses stretch far. We’ve been hearing… things. Screaming. Something’s going off in every direction.”

“Scorched Earth.”

Legion turned to her, jaw tight.

“When you find this Daniel character…”

They didn’t finish. Just looked at her, pleading.

Elisa nodded grimly. “I wouldn’t mind smashing his godsdamned face in.”

\\

Elisa didn’t have to fly far to hear what was happening.

Down on the Basin proper, it seemed like a nightmare come to life. Demons and humans attacking each other. Demons and demons attacking each other.

She pushed down the instinctive feeling of pride when she was in this form. What was wrong with her? Why was she now so connected with what the demonkin felt?

And then she saw him.

Kael.

Or what was left of him.

He looked... different. His body was more angular, muscles stretched taut like cords beneath his skin. His eyes were wrong. Black where they shouldn’t be. His wings hadn’t been there before, they just sprouted from his back like he was one of those Concordian angels.

And gods—he looked to be like he was feeding. Bent over a limp body. The person underneath him was still struggling, but her eagle eyes told her that the skin was turning bone white.

Her instincts screamed at her to act—but something else stirred inside.

A pulse.

A command written in bone.

She threw back her head and screeched.

All the demonkin snapped to attention. Their heads turned in perfect sync.

Kael was the first to move among all of them. The show of baring his forelegs back and roaring was also suitably intimidating.

Elisa’s breath hitched.

That roar wasn’t for anyone else. That was his. His birthright. The Royal Alpha’s claim. The Royal Alpha’s challenge.

Of course. Of course there was something off about demon society. And Kael’s blood—of noble descent—must’ve held something dormant. Magickally latent.

The wings erupted from his back like a curse made flesh.

“Well… that got his attention.”

And then he was airborne.

Elisa could only turn and run.

She tried to stay ahead, wings beating hard—but she wasn’t trained for aerial combat. Not like him.

She didn’t have time to think.

Kael was already after her—tearing through the sky. His wings were larger than hers, leathery and powered by raw muscle. His arms gave him more options. He was fast. Too fast.

Kael’s subsequent roar split the air. It wasn’t rage, not entirely. It was command. A challenge. Instincts told her that he was the Royal Alpha, and whatever magic the Basin had awakened in him, it bowed to his bloodline.

He lunged.

Elisa spun into a sharp barrel roll, dodging low over the rooftops. Her body shrieked in pain—she wasn’t trained for this kind of aerial maneuver.

Kael pivoted midair, one wing brushing a chimney as he twisted, claws slashing at empty space.

She dove—hard—toward the village square, but when it seemed he would finally catch up to her—

Ward. Now.

A shimmer snapped into place behind hera falcon-shaped barrier of wind and pressure. When Kael tried to punch through it, the ward cracked like glass and exploded into a gale that sent him reeling backward. Not far. Just enough.

But nothing could keep a Vampire Lord down for long. He was already getting back up and closing the distance.

It was calling to her again. That same feeling she felt earlier. She had the presence of mind to resist… but something told her she should listen to her body more. 

So Elisa screeched again—not a cry for help, but—

\\

A command.

One of the defensive towers at the edge of the village—the ones that lay dormant until their sigils were keyed—shuddered, groaned… and sprouted.

The runes along its base ignited. Its roof opened like a blooming flower.

And from its heart, a magickal missile—twisting with light and ancient wood—shot upward.

\\

Right toward Kael.

He barely managed to corkscrew aside as it shot faster than a comet. It clipped the edge of his wing—but that wasn’t where it landed.

It slammed into the Basin below.

BOOM!!!!

Water exploded upward, a geyser of force and steam. The air warped. The ground shook.

What in the Steps was that?!

Elisa faltered mid-flight, thrown sideways by the shockwave. Smoke curled off his shoulder where the missile had grazed him.

He’d dodged the brunt of it—but just barely.

Elisa hadn’t…

Kael collided with her mid-arc, the two bodies twisting in a tangle of feathers, limbs, and residual magic. For a split second, it was like falling into a memory. Then came the impact.

They tumbled.

Elisa crashed first.

Her form slammed through the rotted timbers of a crumbling building at the Basin’s edge, wood splitting like bone. Dust bloomed in a thick, choking cloud. Tiles rained down. A final crack—and then silence.

She was in her human form again.

Her body took the brunt of it. Birds were supposed to be brittle, right? If she was in her falcon form… it would’ve been incompatible with life. Yet she didn’t feel any broken. It just hurt like a motherf—

“…Fucker.”

Kael.

She just remembered. Kael had landed hard nearby too, considering how his shadow stretched long over her now.

The Basin wind howled through the broken beams. It seemed neither wanted to make the move.

Whatever happens from here on out probably won’t bode well for her greater health.