The Herald Of The Duke

Fear.

Not the fear of pain. Not the fear of death.

The fear of me.

"You don't understand!" he wailed, his voice turning shrill. "Anomaly #111—it's—it's eternal! It adapts! It evolves! You can't—"

"Run faster," I said, my voice cold, hollow.

He twisted, flailing wildly, and scrambled toward the shattered remnants of the lab's exit. But there was no time.

WHOOSH.

Flames erupted in his path, a searing wall of black and red that forced him back toward me. His tendrils lashed out, desperate, reaching for anything to save him. They burned away before they even touched the ground.

Kael's body convulsed, his mutations accelerating uncontrollably as his anomalous blood fought to keep him alive. His form was more monster than man now, the gaping maw stretching wider, his flesh bubbling and steaming in grotesque patterns.