Looking Down

The poisoned guard's body convulsed violently on the snowy ground, his limbs thrashing as though he were fighting against an invisible force.

His veins bulged grotesquely, blackened and pulsing like creeping tendrils of death.

Suddenly, his entire body stiffened.

The second guard crouched beside him, his eerie smile unshaken by the horrifying sight.

Slowly, he reached out and pressed a hand against the convulsing man's chest. His palm glowed faintly with an ominous, sickly light.

The poisoned guard gasped, his chest rising sharply as though taking his first breath after drowning.

Then his eyes snapped open.

But they weren't his eyes anymore.

The irises were dull, lifeless, stripped of humanity and will. They stared blankly ahead, as if looking through everything around him.

The convulsions stopped as abruptly as they had begun. The guard's bloodied lips twitched, but no words came.