The incantation appeared to have been a success, although Mathian felt disturbingly calm at first. Theo's raw wolfish power now coursed through his veins, filling the void that was Mathian's core magic. Instantly, he looked healthier, there was color in his cheeks and a luster in his otherwise dead eyes. His heart was beating faster and his hands were sweaty. He was holding onto the reassembled pen perhaps a bit too tightly when he realized that maybe he was breathing too rapidly and that such profuse sweating might be something to worry about. He pulled back, leaning onto the edge of the desk with one hand while he strugled to regulate the air coming in and the air coming out. The outflow of Theo's energy must have been too sudden, too overwhelming to be controlled without any serious side-effects.
He hissed and gritted his teeth as the room around him swirled before his glossed over eyes. He struggled to contain the wolf's energy. It felt like a living thing, but more playful than life-threatening. An itching sensation suddenly attacked him and goosebumps invaded his skin. It felt like the energy was accumulating at a great speed, ready to burst through him, and he braced himself but all he did was let out a cute, high-pitched sneeze before the surge of power tipped over like an oncoming wave. That was... completely unexpected. "What the f--," he shook his head, now feeling completely at ease. Perhaps even comfortable... and fuzzy? He blushed slightly but he was quick to turn around and make an attempt to compose himself.
"R-right, where were we?" He turned around to face Theo, back to his usual self, judgy facial expression and all. With a single finger snap, he changed himself out of his current clothes and back into his own, coat and all. He even gave Theo a snap and gifted him his old clothes back, already donned. "Pick up the sack, we're going back," he said in his usual commanding tone of voice and traced a wide ritual circle around them both by wiggling around a chalk with nothing but his eyes. It was amazing how truly easy it was to do such elementary magic, he thought. He chanced a fleeting glance at Theo, whose power he had borrowed, thinking of him now more like unexplored territory rather than just another useless partner.
"Can't say this won't hurt, but you can at least revel in the fact that it's gonna hurt me too," he said with a hint of smirk and traced the deconstructive teleportation spell in the book with his eyes. As soon as he finished mouthing the words that sounded nothing short of ominous, he winced at the sudden stinging pain. He lifted up his hands to his face only to gawk in horror at the sight of his nails peeling off his fingers. He yelled out gruffly and began shaking uncontrollably, his body instinctively curling inwardly. "Shit! Shit!" His skin, too, began to peel off, revealing flesh that was quickly dematerializing as if someone was gnawing at it with insatiable hunger. His bones turned to dust, his teeth fell out, every hair on his head withered away, his insides turned to mush and even his clothes disintegrated before he lost consciousness, leaving behind a terrible, agonizing scream.
Seconds later, he found himself lying on a cold, stone-paved ground in front of the towering building that was the militia's headquarters, with the sun hitting his face and making him squint. The initial numbness quickly wore off and he was able to pick himself up, shuddering at the thought that he was actually alive. That the pain had gone as rapidly as it had come. He began laughing loudly and faltered when his chest began to hurt. "Fuck, I'm gonna get myself killed..." he let out a whisper, looking around to see if Theo had made it. "Theo!" he gasped, hoping he hadn't killed the wolf.
Bookmarks