City of Witchcraft

Symbiotic

Alex had always been better off than most in Cantrix City. He lived in a good part of town, and money was of little concern as he'd inherited a large sum of it after his father's passing. Despite that, his job was in one of the most run-down parts of town; He owned a small bar that was often packed full of people society tended to look down on. Alex didn't think too fondly of them either- but they were good for business, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Alex didn't always come in to work when the bar was open- in fact, he usually didn't, as he saw no point in it. But on this particular day, he felt some strange force pulling him to come to work, and so he did. The place was rather empty -which was to be expected of a Tuesday morning- but there were a few patrons in the bar. There was an older couple in ragged dress who looked like they hadn't bathed in years, and a young woman off to the side wearing revealing clothing, a cigarette in one hand and a bottle in the other.

Alex shrugged, beginning to cross the room to a door with an "Employees Only" sign on it that led to the second floor, when he noticed another person in the bar, off in a dimly lit corner. Alex immediately noticed that they were covered head to toe in clothing, without a sliver of skin showing. They wore oversized pants and large boots, as well as a baggy jacket zipped up all the way and a hood that drooped down over the top half of their face, the bottom half covered in a medical mask. They wore well-worn leather gloves, which they attempted to pull further up their wrists when they noticed Alex looking at them.

Alex felt a dark aura around the person before him, but despite that, he still felt drawn toward them. Alex crossed the rest of the way to the person, and despite the fact he couldn't see an inch of their face, he still felt like they were watching him. When he reached the person, they looked up at Alex, and he felt as though he had been stripped naked before them and that they were reading him like an open book.

The person before him tilted their head to the side. As the hood shifted, he thought he caught a flash of their skin before they quickly pulled the hood back down. It was yellow. Alex shook his head, convincing himself that it had all been in his imagination. The figure continued to stare up at him, and Alex now felt that the figure knew everything about him. The figure whispered something in a rather serpentine voice, but Alex was unable to catch whatever it was they had said.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Alex asked politely. The figure stood, and Alex suddenly realized how large they really were- they stood at least a foot taller than Alex, and Alex was already rather tall himself. The person before him had to be at least seven feet tall- probably eight. They reached out toward Alex slowly, and he tried to step away, but he found he couldn't. Alex watched as the gloved hand wrapped around his shoulder, before the glove seemed to simply dissolve, and the thing's hand was exposed. It, too, was yellow, with long, dark, claw-like nails. Alex felt their hand grip tighter at his shoulder. Alex looked up at them in terror, and found that their hood was down. Their eyes were solid black and seemed to absorb the light around them. Their hair was jet-black and a tangled mess. Alex could see anger in the thing's eyes.

"Ouy Otno Ytud Ym Wotseb I."

"What?"

Alex blinked, and the figure was gone. He looked around him, trying to see if the person was there, but they weren't. Nobody even looked at him, like they hadn't even noticed what had happened. Alex shook his head again, convincing himself he was going insane. It all must have been in his head, he told himself. That was the only reasonable explanation for what had happened.

Alex walked over to the employee's only door, pulling a key out from his pocket and unlocking it before slipping through and closing it behind him, checking to make sure it was locked. Alex began to make his way up the creaky, wooden stairs before him when he felt a pain in his chest. It started as a tingling, more uncomfortable than anything, but then it began to spread, and began to worsen, until it felt like someone was actively ripping his flesh off of his chest. Alex struggled to make his way up the stairs, before making it three steps from the top and dropping to the ground, clawing at his chest. Touching the source of the pain only made it worse, and he felt a shiver run down his spine when he realized how gooey it felt.

In a panic, Alex quickly removed his shirt, hearing it tear as he did so, before looking down at his chest and being horrified at what he saw. His chest looked as though it had been ripped open- but the hole in his chest wasn't empty. A large, wide-open mouth had filled it, and he could feel it flexing open and shut in his chest.

"What the fuck?"

Now more panicked than ever, Alex struggled to his feet and made his way up the last few stairs before struggling his way into the bathroom, where he looked into the mirror in horror, and saw that the mouth in his chest was very much real. It had long, jagged teeth that were coated in a strange, black, liquidy substance that filled the rest of the mouth as well. The substance seemed to absorb all light around it. Veins of black ooze ran across his chest, starting at the mouth and slowly spreading out to other parts of his body. Alex could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"This is all a dream, right? This must be. This has to be!" Alex hit himself in the forehead. "Come on, wake up! Wake up!" Alex hit his forehead again, and he felt a splitting pain in the spot he hit. Alex's eyes darted back to the mirror, staring at where the pain was coming from, and found that another hole was opening up in his body. He expected another eye to fill it like the one in his chest, but instead, it was a third eye, larger than the other two he already had. It had a long, black, slitted pupil, and the iris was blood-red. The rest of the eye was black, and seemed to absorb light the same way the substance in the mouth did.

Alex stumbled away from the mirror, as with the emergence of the third eye, he could see something he couldn't see before- strange misty clouds in the air that were colors Alex had never seen before, and that he was completely unable to describe. They floated in the air, moving in a way that almost felt like a dance. Alex had no clue what those clouds were, but he felt confident he could only see them because of his third eye. The fear he had felt just moments ago gave way to wonder as he stared in awe at the beautiful sight before him.

Then he felt pain again. But this pain was different- he didn't feel like he was being ripped open, but rather like he was being stretched out. The pain came in three spots this time- one on his lower back, and two on either side of his new, third eye. Alex turned his attention to the mirror once more and saw that he was growing large horns and a long, thin tail with a pointed tip. The horns curved and had elegant designs that seemed to be carved into them, with the designs on one reflected perfectly on the other. The tail swayed slowly behind him.

Alex walked back over to the mirror and examined his features closely. The face that looked back at him was his, but it was also different. During the process, his facial structure had been changed- his nose was flatter, his eyes and his lips thinner, his cheekbones narrower. His hands and fingers were longer, with long, claw-like nails, and his knuckles looked somewhat scaly. His original two eyes had changed color to match the third (although their pupils were horizontal rather than vertical), and he noticed his feet had grown and ruined his shoes. Those, too, had scaly knuckles and claw-like nails.

Alex made eye contact with himself in the mirror, before whispering to himself, "What happened to me?"

You have been given a greater purpose, Alex Richards. Alex had no clue where the voice came from, he just heard it in his head, almost like he was having someone else's thoughts.

"What are you?" Alex asked in wonder.

Nothing in your realm can comprehend my existence.

"Why me?"

I need someone nobody will miss.

"Wait, wha-"

Then everything went black.