Evolution

A few seconds after entering the shadows where he had fought the elk and boar, he exited the shadow on a wall in the cave. Where he immediately lowered himself down to the ground. Hazel could see that his face was distorted in pain.

"Ethan! What's wrong?!"

Ethan gritted his teeth for a second before responding "My body is likely reacting to the blood I consumed, I'm guessing that it's trying to evolve or some shit to make me stronger."

After he said that his face distorted into even more pain, however, he opened his eyes and could see that Hazel had an extremely worried look on her face. She started to get up, however, Ethan put his hand up.

"I'm fine, just play a game on your console or get some sleep."

"O- okay."

She began opening a game on her console and was about to enter it, however, she heard a very loud and disturbing noise.

*CRACK*

She immediately looked up at him, however, Ethan placed his hand on the ground and twisted it. After he did that a barrier of darkness began to swirl around Hazel and the makeshift bed she had made from Ethan's blankets.

"Haa~~ When I'm in this kind of pain I don't need to hear or see her worry. Plus she won't see or hear the pain I'm going through."

*CRACK* *CRACK* CRACK*

The continuous sound of Ethan's bones cracking in his body rang throughout the cave but didn't enter the barrier Hazel was in. Ethan could feel his entire body heating up until he felt like he was on fire.

He took off his hoodie and shirt and could see that they were both covered with sweat. But after a few seconds, his body temperature began to freeze and he began to shake from the cold.

He looked up and gritted his teeth because he could feel that his skin and muscles were being ripped apart, but even with all this pain he didn't scream.

~~~~

Hazel was screaming at Ethan and banging on the barrier to let her out, however, it was still up and she never got a response. Despite the fact that she was terrified of him when she first found out and still scared after, she still cared about the well-being of her friend.

She eventually puffed her cheeks and sat against the wall on her makeshift bed. After a few moments, she sighed and picked up her gaming console, and entered it.

"Let's see here. Fairy, Ghost Type is immune to Dragon, Fighting, and Normal while being four times resistant to bug, but is weak to-"

She repeated the mechanics of her game to distract herself from the terrifying sound she had heard and could only assume that it was the breaking of Ethan's bones while his body was evolving.

She constantly checked the time on her phone while she was in the barrier, seeing that one hour had passed, then two and three, and eventually ten hours had passed before the barrier began to disappear.

When it did she could see Ethan laying on the ground, as if he slid down the side of the wall until he was on the ground of the cave. She quickly put her game down and rushed over to him.

She could tell that he was still breathing, however, his eyes were closed and weren't opening up. She turned him so he was laying on his back and noticed the changes in his body.

He was roughly 189cm tall, which was nearly 10cm taller than he was before, and his body had become muscular. He had always had a healthy-looking body, despite his paler skin, however, the muscles on his arms were defined and not overbearing while he had an eight-pack too.

She could see that his face had changed slightly and his hair had also grown in length a small amount. Hazel wasn't sure if it was because of the Vampiric Charm or if she actually felt attracted to his body. But she felt her heart racing and her body felt hotter.

"You okay there, Hazel?"

Ethan spoke in the tone that he had used to toy with her before as he opened his eyes and sat against the wall of the cave again. He could see that she was looking away from him and he laughed at her response to his changed body.

When he finished laughing at her he had a gentle smile on his face. He then grabbed his T-shirt and hoodie and put them back on. He could feel that both of them were tighter than before and found it only natural considering what happened to him.

Ethan sighed and scratched the side of his head, noticing that his hair was slightly longer. "Looks like I'll need to get some new clothes, huh?"

He stopped using the playful tone and was talking like how he had in the past with no sign of coldness in it. He moved one of his knees towards him and rested his arm on it, although slight pain could be seen across his face.

Hazel saw his face from the corner of her eyes and looked over at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea, my body is just sore from the evolution you could say. It feels like my body hasn't moved in ages, though at the same time, it feels a lot more…. More like how it should be. Also, I thought my mentality would take a turn for the worse, but instead, it feels more clear than before I even started changing a month ago."

Hazel parted her lips for a second but smiled a few seconds later. "I'm glad you feel more like yourself, even if that's not who you were before."

Ethan let out a small laugh and then looked up at Hazel. "Do you think you can grab that book over there?" He pointed to the Bloodborne book on the adjacent wall.

Hazel sighed then began walking over to the book and picked it up, then walked over to Ethan and handed him the book. "Happy?"

"Yep."