Twenty minutes ago, Horo opened his eyes to his familiar apartment.
It felt cold...empty. There wasn't the constant chatter and banter that he had apparently gotten used to. He found himself wanting to log back in immediately.
'No.. Here I am Adam. I can't get too attached.'
That's how he lived. That's how he survived. In the end, he could only rely on himself.
He shook his head as he sat up with a groan, resisting the urge to follow his instincts. He intended to just check himself in the mirror and then log back in and tease Lily about how she was going crazy.
Just thinking about how Lily would probably throw a tantrum when he told her nothing changed brought a small smile to his face.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hallway as he entered his bathroom, the light flickering briefly before illuminating the room.
In the mirror, a tall young man stared back at him, amber eyes sharp, jet-black hair unruly.
"Heh. I knew she was crazy"
Adam sighed in faint relief that there were no apparent changes to his body.
"I wonder what is going on with those 3 though to change like that..."
His voice was like a low grating whisper as he scratched his cheek. It was then that he realized something was wrong. His skin felt smooth— and cool like a snakes!
He leaned in, his breath hitching. Horror flickered in his eyes—faint patches of snake scales glistened under the light, blending so seamlessly with his skin that they were almost invisible from a distance.
First he didn't believe it, thinking he was just hallucinating or it was just a dream.
"What the fuck?! I must be dreaming! I gotta wake up!"
He even tried slapping himself to wake himself up yet in the bathroom he remained. He felt his teeth cut open the inside of his cheek from the blows.
His stomach twisted in revulsion as the taste on his tongue wasn't metallic but undeniably sweet. Sticky, thick like syrup. Wrong
Stumbling to the sink, Adam spit into it, his breath catching when he saw that instead of the typical crimson splash of blood, his was a dark violet with the consistency closer to pudding.
Was this his blood? No it couldn't be. What blood was purple? It must have been some sick joke his siblings were pulling on him. A new form of bullying.
He tried to deny it, but the faint sound of hissing snapped him back to reality. The sink was melting. His blood wasn't just sickeningly sweet, it was corrosive.
He gripped the edge of the sink, knuckles white. No. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be real. But the melting porcelain begged to differ. His stomach twisted.
"...Oh fuck. Lily was right."
The panic set in. His heartbeat becoming erratic as he released control over his emotions. He grabbed his hair, his breathing rough, erratic and uneven. He was freaking out, how could he not when his blood and skin had mutated entirely.
Could he even be considered human still? Plus if his siblings found out about how he changed, he would find himself in a lab cage or on an operating table without question.
"Oh my~! Now you look like a mess~! What happened to your plan for murdering your family huh~?"
A high pitch giggle reached his ears causing him to whip his head to the side to see a little girl sitting on the sink countertop.
The girl's body and face were obscured by shadows but he could make out a sadistic grin and her iris was an eerie white.
Adam froze for a second, staring at the counter. Empty. Yet the girl sat there in the reflection, staring at him with an inhuman like grin.
"Little Snake, why are you so scared~? I gave you one of my toys and you have so far entertained me~! I have no interest in breaking you....At least not yet..."
The girl giggled again as Adams heart battered itself against his ribs. His mind had yet to catch up with this twisted reality.
"I must have fallen asleep. This is just one horrible dream!"
He tried his best to deny reality which seemed to upset the entity in the mirror.
"Where is the confident man who was willing to do anything to achieve his wish? It was you who took my hand after all."
Adam turned his head back to the mirror to see the girl sitting in the reflection still. He blinked and suddenly she was pressed up against the mirror, as if it was a window and she was on the other side.
"Now get your act together before I kill you myself!"
The shadows swirled in agitation, the little girls voice was grating to the ear.
"W-what is happening to me? What did you do to me?"
Adam's breath hitched, his chest tightening under the suffocating weight of the entity's bloodlust, like invisible hands crushing his lungs.
Yet despite the panic and the threat of death right in front of him, the hatred for his family burned fiercely in his eyes.
"Yes that's the look~!"
The entity giggled as it backed away from the mirror a bit, the shadows that made up its body began to fade like smoke
"I didn't do any of those changes to you Little Snake. You just synchronized very well with your ****"
The last word was lost despite straining his ears to listen. No sound. No voice. Just an absence, an emptiness that sent a shiver down his spine.
The entity had said something but it felt like the world shifted, refusing to let him hear what was said.
Cold sweat flowed freely down Adams face as the entity continued.
"You best prepare yourself, This place...is unstable"
The manic laughter faded into a soft whispered warning before the entity itself faded away into nothing, leaving Adam all alone.
Adam sunk to his knees as relief washed over him. He was alive! But that cryptic warning bothered him as he glanced at his watch.
A curse slipped from his lips as he noticed a lot more time had passed than he had thought. He needed to get back now or his friends would start to panic.
He rushed back to his bed and picked up his helmet, ready and eager to dive back in to escape the horror show that he had to call Real life.