Chapter 42: Transformation

Red aura covered the muscular body of a youth. In a layer unseen, his very will manifested to bathe him in red auric flames. In the physical layer of the universe however, red arcs of energy sparked around his body like lightning, and in his hands, he held a luminous orb that he plundered for power. Suddenly, the youth opened his eyes and the energy transference stopped.

In the next moment, he took control of all the functions in his body and shaped the eldritch flesh to his liking. The mouths opened themselves again, but this time they were not ravenous. Unlike previously, where their sharp teeth clamored in excitement and drool leaked out of their mouths in bloodthirst, this time, they were obedient. Staunch, silent, disciplined. As if the mouths weren't eldritch abominations but instead soldiers, ready to receive orders from its King.

Zan gave the command, and the mouths bit into his flesh. The youth winced in pain but a strong, silent resolve shadowed his stoic face. The gray flesh didn’t make more of itself, but instead moved towards certain parts of his body. It was like a parasite you could visibly see moving through your veins. Before, a large part of Zan’s body was covered in unsymmetrical gray flesh, yet now that he “arranged” them, everything was balanced once again.

Well, as balanced as human meat combined with eldritch flesh in a heterogeneous mixture could be. The orb had granted his cosmic abomination a way to make more of itself, and so it did without any arrangement or pattern. Not that Zan thought it could think...even though it could. Yet even though that was the case, it still ate at his body recklessly and madly converted everything without thinking of proper balance.

The disharmony between his normal human body and his eldritch flesh, flesh that held around eight times the weight his human meat did, was too much even for Zan, it was too lopsided. Therefore, the youth arranged his body to make it balanced. Even though it hurt like hell…

Zan’s new body however was a marvel. The eldritch flesh turned into a darker gray and now, he had two arms and two legs made out of solid, herculean, cosmic horror muscle. For his arms, the dark gray ended at his shoulders and for his legs, they ended at the point they connected to his torso.

In a time long past, it looked as if Zan had cybernetic implants that boosted his physical abilities. Many from that time would label Zan as a cyborg, or at least a person with four performance-enhancing prosthetics. That conjecture wasn’t too far from the truth, for although his arms may not look like iron or steel, their color and insane strength could pass them for nano enhanced artificial muscle.

To conclude, the symmetry and new balanced look of his body was sleek, stylish, yet domineering.

The upgrades to his body did not just come in outer appearance however. Within Zan, the orb had granted a boost in power for his black heart and black blood. The youth had a stamina that would last him days in battle, and his black blood would clot and regenerate his flesh at even faster speeds. Amazingly, the upgrades brought an enhanced sensitivity of control to both his heart and his blood, allowing Zan to manually control the power of both if he so wished to.

The youth absolutely loved his newfound strength, he could feel the very power coursing through his veins. Zan had never felt such force and absolute might to this degree, it was astounding. Yet…despite the strength that filled him to the utmost brim, there was something inside him that felt…empty.

The youth had opened his eyes to observe the changes he made to his body, yet, despite the amazing gifts and surprises of the present giving him exactly what he wished for, he found himself closing his eyes once again.

Smiling from ear to ear with a toothy smile. Long, straight, scarlet red hair. Eyes that lit up whenever she saw him and an excited, bright voice that followed. Zan had almost forgotten it all. The face, voice, and little quirks of his younger sister that were all but fading away from him, had resurfaced like a mad flood of memories. Enveloping and washing over him, Zan closed his eyes in a wretched effort to return to the past. Yet no matter how desperate he was, and no matter how deeply the pain in his heart felt, it did nothing to change the reality of the present.

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The youth did the most logical thing that he could think of to do next, and that was to brush all of it away. Forget about it and move forward. Zan did not know if Elea was alive or dead, he only knew that he was here, and she was not. The facts of the present were bluntly simple and easy to understand, so accordingly, he should be able to easily move on from this and focus on the future.

That’s what he had told himself yet…the hurt inside him did not go away. It refused to go away no matter how vehemently Zan pushed it away. It was like a cold wind that he tried to ignore but couldn’t. Frustratingly he tried to push away the very winds with his hands, only for the biting cold to return even stronger.

Facing the facts was “simple”. Fully accepting the present and allowing oneself to feel the emotions they needed to, was not simple however. Zan did not understand such a thing, for no one had ever taught him. Instead he did what he knew, and brought his heavy gray fist down on the stomach of the metal beast. Even though deep emotions still lingered in his heart, the impact was enough to help him focus on the present.

Opening his eyes, he noticed that the dent he made to the metal beast was deep and extensive. What would have normally taken him twenty punches to make the same large dent, now only took him one. It surprised him how powerful he grew. Joy, delight and pride would have normally welled up inside him, yet…it simply did not.

In the span of a few moments that he had reawakened, Zan had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. From burning, passionate will and determination, to joyful surprise and prideful satisfaction. And from there, to sorrow, frustration and longing, to then…emptiness.

Emotionlessly, he looked towards his other hand and found that the bright radiant orb was still in its grasp. Its light was not as intense and it had noticeably shrunken in size, yet the spherical thing still held great and terrible power.

A semblance of emotion returned to the youth’s eyes. If he so wished, he could plunder the remaining reserves of the orb’s power, and further boost himself to greater heights unimaginable. Judging from its brightness, size and weight, the magical thing still had more than half of its energy available. It was astounding how much power it still held despite Zan taking so much to evolve himself, but little did the youth know that his eldritch flesh gave him 100% efficiency in plundering its energy. Those from the bloodline clans would have to settle for 60-70% or less depending on their talent.

Zan looked at the orb, eyes shining with red greed and desire. The shadows darkened on his face and his left hand turned into a monstrous, grasping claw…

BANG!

The metal beast fell slowly to the ground. Everything that happened from the metal monster’s laser beam skewering the three-eyed wolf, to the youth’s mad dash to the core, the collapse of Zan’s cells and subsequent awakening of his eldritch flesh, to finally his journey to the past, it all actually happened in the span of a few moments.

BOOM!

The army of wolves outside heard a loud bang, and they looked towards the source of the thunder. Out of the metal colossal’s chest, a figure stepped out emanating an aura of pure domination. The lingering will that empowered his body, giving off an air of sweeping suppression that pushed down with tyrannical pressure on the pack of wolves. Zan’s will hadd indirectly forced them to lower their heads to him.

Perhaps because Zan wanted to test his strength, or simply because the metal beast infuriated him, the boy opened a new path out of the metal wolf’s chest. And of course, he did so with his heavy gray fist and rippling eldritch muscle, adding to the intimidation and near hopelessness that the wolves felt.

Slowly, the figure walked towards their alpha. The three-eyed wolf had a four foot in diameter hole piercing through the empty air that used to be its heart. It simply laid there, letting out its last breaths as it stared at Zan. The wolf had no idea what happened to the youth, but he had become so strong that if they actually fought again, he would get trounced around like a dog in front of a lion. The only regret she had was that she could not give her life to buy time for her pack to escape, for the little white wolf to escape. Death was coming, and although it would take her soon, it seemed as if they would be coming with her.

An army of wolves were shaking with fear, yet still they crowded around the three-eyed wolf. Maybe they wanted to protect her. Maybe they were still relying on her, or maybe they wanted to be close when she passed away…or when they all pass away.

In turn, the little white puppy was not protecting its guardian anymore. Instead it was crying at the three-eyed wolf’s side, mourning her approaching departure from this world’s physical realm. Life rapidly left the alpha’s body, and the little white wolf who was clutching at her body felt it as her rhythmic heavy breaths started to become lighter.

As the puppy further buried its head in the alpha’s fur, a dark shadow was cast on it…he was here. The pale moonlight accentuated the two-legged demon’s glowing red eye as it looked down on them. Zan thought the wolf was too prideful, but he saw and heard as it whimpered at him. The wolf’s third eye bled open and the youth seemed to have understood the alpha.

‘Kill me, and spare them. Please.’

At least, those were the abstract thoughts he could understand. There was no language that was transmitted, but the direct meaning of the wolf’s intentions were transferred telepathically to his mind.

The red haired young man stopped in place. Moments passed by as the three-eyed wolf’s eyes started to close. In the next moment however…the youth revealed from his left hand a bright radiant orb…