Arthur's scream ripped through the volcanic air, raw and broken, a sound born of unspeakable agony. His body convulsed, thrown against the jagged ground by a force he couldn't control. Beneath his skin, his organs writhed like trapped serpents, shifting and twisting into unnatural shapes. He clawed at the ashen soil, fingers digging trenches in his desperate attempt to hold onto something real amidst the chaos within.
"Scorn..." His voice was little more than a rasp, a plea lost to the storm raging in his mind. He reached for the ghostly presence that had guided him so many times, but his thoughts were drowned in a relentless, hissing static. His ears rang as though filled with molten iron, and his blood surged through his veins in waves of blistering heat. He felt like a dam on the verge of bursting, his skull ready to shatter from the pressure.
Then came the first wave of change.
