Page 149 of Star Claimed Omega
Soleil scarcely had time to breathe when the shadows shifted again.
Varnok emerged from within them like a nightmare, shifting mid-step.
His bones cracked with a wet sound that echoed off the charred metal walls. His skin stretched, split, and reformed in jagged pulses of unnatural growth.
Glowing veins of red-hot plasma coursed along his limbs as his spine hunched, stretching to accommodate the new mass.
His jaw broke apart and reknit itself into a snout lined with blackened fangs, some cracked, others fused to bits of old tech soldered into his dermis.
One eye burned molten yellow. The other was obsidian, pulsing with malicious code.
Scarlet fur, patchy and scorched, burst from his skin like flame, riddled with burn scars and twisted branding marks from theRedSkullrites.
His tail was barbed. One shoulder bore a jagged spike of exposed alloy bone. And from his chest, deep welts pulsed like corrupted runes, radiating sick energy.
He was no spectral wolf.
He was a debased titan.
A cursed monstrosity of flesh, metal, and fury, charging through the fray.
Varnok grabbed Soleil mid-lunge, slamming her against the wall.
‘You had me imprisoned, now you’ve killed the brother who had just freed me. You’re dead to me, daughter.’
‘So were you to me years ago. Do as you will,’ she taunted, raising her throat so he’d tear it apart.
‘Nada!’ Santi roared, bounding forward.
Varnok bared his set of calciferous fangs to her temple. ‘Come one step closer, Alvarro, and I scatter her brains across the deck.’
Santi froze, trembling, his fangs bared.
Soleil writhed, but Varnok’s strength was too much to resist, yet still she fought her father and the madness in his eyes.
SANTIAGO
Varnok’s transformation was grotesque.
Santi stared at his twisted, gnarled wolf form, an abomination of scarlet fur laced with black scars and plasma-threaded burns.
Now he understood why Varnok held the title ofThe Mad Wolf King.
He appeared almost rabid as he snarled, dragging his daughter away.
Soleil contorted in his grip as she half-shifted in protest, otherworldly energy flaring red as she attempted to escape.
Still, Varnok only tightened his grasp, using her like a living aegis.
He began to back away down the corridor.
‘Don’t take any step closer!’ he growled, voice distorted through his contorted throat. ‘I’ll rip her in two before you touch me.’
Santi snarled, bounding forward, spectral fur igniting into a violet-gold blaze.
Until a massive shoulder slammed into him from the side.
‘Stand down!’ Kaal snapped, blocking him with a wide-set stance. ‘You’ll tear her apart trying to save her. He’ll use her, Santi. You know he will.’
