The Roar of the Night

2

It had been several days since I showed Alex what I had become. Since then, he hadn't let me leave the house. I couldn't blame him. He was still processing what had happened to me, and I... well, I was still trying to adjust to my new life. The symbiote had changed me, not just in appearance but in everything I used to be. He wasn't just a dog anymore.

The first day after the revelation, Alex tried to maintain normality. He got up early and called me for breakfast. Sitting in front of me with my old bowl of dog food, he looked at me with that same smile he always gave me when I was just Rex, his faithful companion.

"Here you are, friend," he said, putting the plate on the floor. But the smell, that food that I had previously devoured with pleasure, made my stomach turn. **I couldn't eat it**. I tried to smell it again, but there was no way my body would accept it. I walked away, ears lowered, feeling guilty. —You don't like it? —Alex asked, surprised.

I knew he was trying to make everything go back to the way it was, but **nothing was the same**. In the end, he went to the kitchen and brought me human food: roast chicken, some bread, and some rice. At least I was able to eat that, although I did it as I usually did: I leaned my head towards the plate and **ate with the same clumsiness as a dog**, licking and nibbling.

"I guess that's what you are now," Alex whispered, but there was no reproach in his voice. Just acceptance.

**He kept agreeing with me**, as if he wanted to remind me that, despite everything, I was still his Rex. The change in my body or mind didn't matter; To him, I was still me.But **everything changed that afternoon**. I was resting in the living room, with Alex nearby, when I felt a strange vibration. The window panes began to shake, and a deafening sound shook the house. **An explosion**. Alex and I looked at each other, and before I could do anything, **the door to the house was ripped off**.

A man came in, if you could call him that. **It was a huge mass**, almost three and a half meters tall, covered in gray armor that made it look like a rhinoceros. He had horns on his helmet and his chest was so wide that he barely fit through the door frame. The house creaked under his weight.

—Give me the symbiote! —he roared, with a deep voice that echoed throughout the room. **Rhino**. I recognized him from the stories Alex told me about the villains who inhabited this city. And now it was here, in front of me. **I was looking for what I had inside**. I got up quickly, instinctively putting myself between him and Alex. Even though my new body was almost six feet tall, I still felt small compared to that monster. But **I wasn't going to let him take what he was looking for**. Rhino rushed at me with the force of a stampede. I tried to dodge him, but he was too fast. I felt the blow like a mountain falling on me, and **I was thrown to the other side of the room**, crashing into the wall. Pain coursed through my body, but something inside me activated, a fury that wasn't just mine... it was the symbiote's.

**I looked at Alex**. He was in a corner, paralyzed by fear, but his eyes wouldn't leave me. He was terrified of what he saw, but not of me. I knew that he was afraid of losing me again, and that now I had the power to prevent it.

Rhino turned to him. I saw him raise his huge fist, prepared to hit him, and **felt a wave of panic**.

-No! —I screamed, feeling the roar come from the depths of my being.

I stood up with renewed strength and lunged at Rhino before he could touch Alex. I charged at him with everything I had, using my body as a projectile. **I knocked him down**. I felt the symbiote cover my arms, strengthening them, making me more powerful. Rhino fell back, grunting as he tried to get up.

I didn't give him time. **I hit him** with all my strength, again and again, until his helmet cracked and he lay motionless on the ground.

**Silence filled the house**. My breathing was heavy, my hands were shaking from the adrenaline. I turned to Alex, still on the ground, looking at me with a mix of shock and relief.

Without saying anything, I approached him slowly, fear still in the back of my mind. **What if he was afraid of me now?**.

But when I got to him, Alex didn't move away. He stood up slowly, his eyes still locked on mine, and before I could say anything, he hugged me.

**That hug was all I needed**. I felt his arms surround my body, and in that moment, all the tension, all the fear, disappeared. His words, although soft, resonated in my mind.

"I don't care who you are anymore, Rex." **You are my friend, my hero**.

**I have never felt so much sincere love**. Any doubts I had had about what I had become disappeared in that instant. For Alex, I was still his companion, his protector, his friend. And that was the only thing that mattered.