As Ryzen ate the fruit, nothing happened for two seconds.
The hollow was quiet. Rivera held his hand. Lyra observed with unreadable eyes. Rudrean and Aelira stood close, Phoenix Flame already coiling at their fingertips in slow, ready wisps.
Then Ryzen's face changed.
Not gradually.
All at once.
His eyes went wide. His jaw locked. Every muscle in his body seized simultaneously, as if something had reached inside him and grabbed every fiber at once and pulled in opposite directions.
A sound left him that wasn't quite a scream. Too strangled for that. Too total.
The fruit's essence had entered his bloodstream.
"Now," Rudrean said.
