A scorching sensation tried to overwhelm Liam's brain, as if lava had replaced his blood. His skin and muscles shook, quivering chaotically, sending his knees to the sand.
Liam's control over his body receded, slipping away and causing erratic paralysis, leaving his expression stuck in a feral smile caused by a change related to his very existence.
The fifth branch had neared full development during the trip to the forbidden zone, but the process was instantly finalized. The hundreds of protuberances that were growing above Liam's core also shook, stretching as immense vitality flowed through them.
It almost seemed the sixth branch would fully develop, too, but the sudden growth ended, Liam's core having finished devouring the foreign substance that had invaded him.
The shape that had stabbed Liam's shoulder was a tail of tough, yellow chitin ending in a sharp aculeus belonging to a creature that didn't take long to reveal itself.
