The corridor shook again.
Dust streamed from the ceiling in pale sheets, drifting through the sterile white light.
Somewhere deep inside the facility, ancient metal groaned—a long, grinding sound like something enormous forcing itself awake beneath the earth.
Damian tightened his arms instinctively.
Adrian was still in his embrace.
But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
At some point during the walk, the silver-haired youth's body had begun swelling beneath his clothes.
Not fat.
Not muscle.
Expansion.
His originally lean frame had curled tightly against Damian's chest, knees drawn inward, shoulders hunched—but even curled up like that, he looked nearly three times larger than before.
Like his body no longer fit itself.
Damian stopped walking.
"…Adrian?"
The young man didn't answer.
His teeth were clenched hard enough to tremble.
Both arms locked around himself while violent spasms rolled beneath the fabric of his clothes.
And the weight—
The weight was insane.
Damian's arms had already begun to ache.
Adrian didn't just look larger.
He felt heavier.
Far heavier.
At least ten times heavier than before, as if Damian were no longer carrying a person, but some impossibly dense mass compressed into human flesh.
And it had happened so fast.
Just moments ago Adrian had still looked mostly normal.
Now it felt like something inside him was growing too quickly for the human body to contain.
Underneath the fabric—
something moved.
Not clearly enough to see.
Only faint distortions beneath the skin.
Slow.
Uneven.
Like something alive shifting inside his body.
Caleb stopped dead.
"…Holy shit."
Even Ethan instinctively took half a step back.
"What the hell is happening to him?!"
Marcus adjusted Noah slightly on his back, eyes narrowing.
"Put him down?"
"No."
Damian answered instantly.
He tightened his hold instead.
Adrian suddenly curled tighter against his chest, a low strained sound escaping his throat.
Like pain.
Or instinct.
The movement beneath his skin became stronger.
One pulse.
Then another.
Like something enormous was trying to unfold itself underneath layers of flesh.
Caleb crouched despite himself.
"Wait—wait—you guys seeing this?"
Curiosity overpowered caution.
Slowly, carefully, he reached out and pressed one hand against Adrian's shoulder.
The instant his palm made contact—
THUD.
Something pushed back beneath the skin.
Not violently.
But unmistakably alive.
Caleb recoiled so fast he nearly lost balance.
"What the FUCK—!"
At that exact moment, Noah suddenly lifted his head weakly from Marcus's shoulder.
His pale eyes unfocused again.
"…Energy," he whispered.
Then the underground facility trembled violently.
THOOM.
Adrian convulsed hard in Damian's arms.
The corridor lights instantly turned blood-red.
WARNING.
ENERGY REDISTRIBUTION DETECTED.
The cold mechanical voice echoed endlessly through the underground halls.
Noah's pupils contracted slightly.
Slowly, weakly, he raised one trembling hand and pointed deeper into the darkness ahead.
"…That way."
His voice was barely audible.
"All the energy underground… is flowing there."