The universe fractured. One moment Bolt was a husky, albeit a unique one, reeling from the icy mental touch of the distant watcher.
The next, as the Waystone in Eva's hand blazed white and the obsidian archway pulsed with silent, impossible invitation, the Ahna'sara within him didn't just stir – it erupted.
"An agonized howl, deeper and more resonant than any sound he'd ever made, was ripped from him as his bones seemed to liquefy and reshape themselves with excruciating speed".
He felt his spine lengthen, his limbs stretch and thicken, muscles coiling with a terrifying, unfamiliar power. His perspective lurched upwards.
The familiar scent of the cavern, of Eva, of himself, was drowned in a primal wave of new sensations – the tang of ozone from the archway, the subtle vibration of the rock beneath his paws which were no longer just paws, but something larger, clawed, and ending in powerful, hand-like appendages.
"Fur, thick and coarse like a winter wolf's, bristled across his newly broadened shoulders and powerful humanoid torso, the familiar silver, grey, and white patterns of his husky coat now stretched over a terrifyingly new physique".
"He was on two legs, towering, his husky head, now crowned with slightly longer, more alert ears, feeling strangely proportional to this new, imposing form".
"A low, guttural growl rumbled in his chest, a sound of pure, untamed power and utter confusion".
Eva stumbled back, her hand flying to her mouth, the Waystone falling from her momentarily slackened grip to the mossy floor, its light dimming slightly.
"Bolt? Oh, stars, Bolt!"
Her voice was a choked whisper, a cocktail of terror and sheer disbelief.
"He tried to speak, to reassure her, but the word caught in his throat, emerging as another guttural snarl. His own voice was alien to him".
He flexed his new hands, marveling at the strength, the sharp claws. The world looked different from this height, sharper, imbued with an almost predatory clarity".
The Ahna'sara was a raging inferno within him, instinct warring with his familiar consciousness.
"He was Bolt… but he was also more, something ancient and wild".
The obsidian archway still hummed, its dark maw seeming to pulse in time with the chaotic thrumming in Bolt's new body.
"The distant watcher's presence… had it flinched? Bolt thought he sensed a flicker of something – surprise? – before its cold, analytical gaze clamped down again, now tinged with an even greater intensity, a focused hunger".
"It sees", a part of Bolt's mind, still lucid, screamed. "It sees what I've become!"
He took a staggering step, his new balance precarious. His instincts screamed at him: "Danger, threat, protect. Protect what? Protect Eva. The thought cut through the primal haze".
"Bolt… can you understand me?" Eva's voice was trembling, but she held her ground, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. "Is that still you in there?"
He focused, fighting through the storm of new sensations.
"He forced a nod, a jerky movement of his husky head on the powerful, humanoid shoulders. He managed a sound, a low whine that was still recognizably his, if distorted".
The archway pulsed again, and this time the silent, beckoning whisper Bolt had sensed earlier seemed to grow teeth, a seductive, dangerous pull towards the absolute blackness within.
"It promised knowledge, power, an end to the confusion…"
"Don't go near it!" Eva cried, her fear for him overriding her shock at his form.
"She stooped to retrieve the Waystone, its light now a dim, flickering green".
But Bolt was barely listening to her. His heightened senses, newly raw and overwhelming, were now screaming a different warning.
"The watcher. Its attention wasn't just a gaze anymore. It was… reaching".
Probing. He felt a tendril of that icy intellect snake towards them through the cavern, not physically, but like a sliver of deadly cold seeking purchase.
"It's coming," he managed to rasp, his voice a gravelly baritone he barely recognized. "Or sending something."
He instinctively shifted, placing his larger, more powerful form between Eva and the direction of the unseen mental probe, his new claws digging into the moss.
The desire to protect her was a burning, undeniable imperative that superseded even the shock of his own transformation.
"Suddenly, the air above them crackled with an unseen energy. The luminescent fungi lining the cavern roof flickered violently".
"A deep groan echoed from the rock itself, and a shower of crystalline debris, dislodged by some unseen force or the archway's destabilizing influence, rained down".
"Most of it was small, but one massive, jagged shard of glowing crystal, easily the size of Eva's torso, broke free directly above her".
Time seemed to slow. Eva looked up, her eyes widening in horrified realization, but there was no time to move.
"Bolt saw it too, his newly enhanced vision tracking its descent with terrifying clarity".
"The archway pulsed, its silent invitation a mocking counterpoint to the immediate, physical threat".
"The watcher's presence tightened, a cold, expectant pressure".
"Eva was about to be crushed".