40 A glimpse of power (1/2)

...

Amandla was squatting in front of a shelf in the basement, she was actively searching inside but didn't seem to find the tools she needed to repare the door.

”You couldn't have been more specific, jerk...” She was whispering insults against Lazar since it was him who told her where she could find them, when she heard a light noise which, according to her estimates, was coming from the garden.

She looked up in the direction of the noise for an instant, then casually returned to her research, 'Meh, it can't be worse than my evolution.' She thought without worrying too much for Lazar since she knew the noise was obviously related to him.

After ten minutes, Amandla finally found all the tools she was looking for as well as some screws that would also be necessary.

She emptied a box lying on the floor and put everything in it before starting to climb back the stairs to the first floor.

She was walking quietly up the stairs with the box in her left hand, when she heard the same noise as before, but a little louder.

'I don't think mine took so long.' A little more worried now that Lazar's evolution seemed to drag on, Amandla hurried to see what was happening on his side.

She opened the door leading to the first floor and looked directly in the direction of the patio door through which Lazar had gone into the garden.

'What's this?!'

Amandla's pupils changed color from ocean blue to a dazzling white when she saw a black mist against the patio door.

Her face lost all expression and she dropped the box in her hand.

She walked to the patio door and put her hand on the glass of the door, she was feeling drawn by the mist irremediably. Her actions were mechanical as if she wasn't controlling her body anymore.

Then suddenly, as if, she could no longer be content to be separated from the black mist by a plexiglass window, she turned the doorknob, opened the patio door and stepped into the black mist.

...

Lazar was conscious but he no longer felt in control of his body, he couldn't even estimate how long he had been writhing in pain on the grass.

From the beginning of his evolution, he had felt his muscles swell, his bones growing and his clothes tearing, which gave him the certainty that his body had undergone visible changes.

After a while, these changes as well as his pain subsided.

Then, shortly after, his clothes stopped tearing and the pain he felt became only residual.

Lazar lay down on his back to try to catch his breath, 'For fuck sake, if this time it's not over I'm going to kill someone.' He thought while gritting his teeth.

As soon as he opened his mouth to breath, the surrounding mist started to creep in it, 'Bullshit!' Lazar couldn't even move to keep the mist out, he was paralyzed as as soon as the first puff of black mist entered his mouth.

After 30 seconds where Lazar wasn't far from suffocating, he finally finished inhaling all the mist, but passed out just after.

...

”Cough! cough!” Lazar woke up feeling like he had smoked a hundred cigarettes in a row, he was caughing holding his neck with both hands.

❗ [A bound has been created between you and the Disciple of Conquest] ❗

❗ [Each time you will be in the same group, you will gain 5 points in perception and 3 points in agility] ❗

Lazar wondered why he was getting a notification like this now... before noticing that the surface his head was resting on wasn't grass but something softer.

When he reopened his eyes, his gaze fell directly on Amandla's.

She was staring blankly at his face with white pupils that were strangely familiar to him.

She seemed to have noticed that he had woken up but she wasn't reacting.

”Why your eyes have became so ugly.” Lazar asked casually, he knew what kind of response Amandla would have if she was in her normal state.

Amandla gave him a smirk, she stood up and let Lazar's head hit the grass since it was on her thighs before, ”Believe me, it's not worse than yours. Green eyes looked better on you than what you have right now.” She responded.

”Though...” All of a sudden, she took on a falsely lewd gaze and looked at him from head to toe while biting lightly one of her finger, ”It doesn't matter what color your eyes are, you're cuter than before.”

”Shut up, pervert! What's my eyes looks like?” Lazar said annoyed. He gave her a middle finger then rubbed his eyes frantically, as if doing so might give him some indication of what was happening to them.

Amandla resumed a neutral expression, given the puddles of black liquid on the ground and his physical transformation, she couldn't imagine what must have happened to Lazar, 'He's at least 4 inches taller and he has gained some muscle. Compared to me who had undergone minor physical changes, it must have been even more excruciating.'

She wouldn't have appreciate that someone had pissed her off that much neither after her evolution, so she was going to stop teasing Lazar, ”It's hard to explain. You better go find yourself a mirror... and clothes at your size.” Lazar's t-shirt was torn in places which particularly revealed his abs and his pants were ripped not far from his crotch, she preferred to warn him thinking he would call her a pervert if she didn't.

Lazar stood up and doing so he had the unpleasant feeling of being a baby taking his first steps. He had to strain to balance himself as his body was out of sync.

'On the other hand I must admit that it isn't bad to be taller.' Thought Lazar upon seeing that the distance between the ground and his eyes had grown.

Another thing he could measure when the mist cleared was the extent of the damages he had caused in the garden.

He spun around slowly to get the big picture.

His garden had become dismal, to say the least. Where there used to be green and brown before, there were now only shades of gray, white and black.

The trees had lost all their leaves and their branches had rotted, it was only a matter of time before their trunks followed. The flowers were completely withered and the grass was dried. As he looked at the grass closer, Lazar even saw a group of dead ants.

Every living being that was in this garden, except Lazar and Amandla, had been killed by the black mist.