Chapter 3: Change.
The room is dark, just the way I need it. Shadows press close, wrapping around the walls, but even in this dimness, I can make out my own reflection in the mirror. The patches of darkened skin creeping up my neck are worse today, spreading like a stain. I trace my fingers over the rough texture, and it feels different... almost alive. It's not just on the surface anymore; it's deeper, writhing beneath, like something hungry and relentless. Cold water splashes on my face, but it does nothing to shake the feeling. I'm losing control, and I know it.
I close my eyes, but that only brings his face back, the melted, distorted image of the man whose life I stole. His eyes, wide with terror, haunt me. He was there, solid and human, and then he was gone, twisted into a memory I can't erase. I should have been more careful, more... I don't even know anymore. I shove away from the sink, pacing back to the bed, though there's no point in trying to sleep. Sleep abandoned me the night I killed him.
I stare at my hands, clenching them tight. It's like my body is absorbing everything vile I feel about myself, becoming a mirror for what I am inside, a monster.
A surge of energy hits, Rhan is out the door, running through the city streets. It's a restless, wild sprint, his mind spiraling with him. What's wrong with me? I injured one person, then killed another. And for what? This cursed radiation that leaks out, tainting everything I touch. He feel the heat building under his skin, like his veins are on fire. He ran faster, the glow of radiation seeping through his skin like a beacon of his failures.
He pushed myself harder, reaching the cliff that overlooks the city. The lights of a helicopter pass overhead, and I stare up, feeling a strange pull, as if I could reach out and crush it in my hand, even from here. But I can't. Of course, I can't.
What good is this power? Destructive, uncontrollable, more harm than help. They won't cast me out, no matter what I do, but not because I'm worth keeping. I'm just too much of a liability, a mistake they can't admit to.
I might be destined for loss.
Rhan began to run again, even faster this time, he felt untouchable. I'm outside my home. It's as warm and familiar as I remember, windows glowing with the family I left behind. I press my hand to the glass of my brother Token's room, feeling the radiation pulse under my skin. "Your brother is no hero," I whisper to the empty room. My head falls, a tear tracing a hot path down my face, and I pull my hand away, leaving a faint radiated mark on the window. He'd be better off never knowing the truth about what I've become, or what I am becoming.
Back at V8 headquarters, I slip in, hoping no one's noticed my absence. But Giaus is there, arms crossed, his silver eyes cutting through me. "Where were you, Rhan? What if there'd been an emergency?" His voice is heavy with accusation, though I know he's only worried.
"If there were an emergency, you wouldn't come to me for help." My voice is bitter, dismissive. "I was just taking a walk." His disapproving gaze lingers, but I brush past, retreating into the solitude of my room.
Giaus shakes his head, watching me disappear. "What's going on with that boy?" I hear him mutter, but he doesn't push further.
Rhan was in his room, itching at the darkened, rough spots on his body, something was wrong with him, maybe a disease, maybe side effects from his radiation, whatever it was, it was changing his body, and not in a good way.
Using his powers would make it worse, as he ran, as he used his radiation, he could feel a feeling in his chest spreading, it hurt, yet not enough to make him stop running.
I rise, moving toward the mirror. I strip my shirt off, staring at my reflection. The skin on my neck is pulsing, and, horrifically, I see that it's changed, gills, glowing faintly with a bluish-green radiation, are forming at the sides. My chest is darkened, the skin there rough and scaly, twisted in texture and color.
I drag my fingers over the scales, sharp nails scraping the surface, and I freeze. My nails, they're longer, tapering into unnatural, pointed tips. I pull my hand back, staring in horror. What the hell is happening to me?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone