Cain stood on the edge of the Pool, his heart beating so loud that he could hear it in his ears. He had heard the stories, the myths, the legends.
Demonic Blood did have enhancing properties but it held so much more. None of it good. It held the aggression, madness and Hatred that was inherent in all Demons and honestly, the adjective of ancient added in, that did not bode well.
However, Gaius didn't say anything, just merely watched as Cain made his way to the edge and waited to see what his decision was. He did not mock nor taunt him but Cain felt he was doing something far worse than that.
He was judging him. Just like so many had before. His father, his brothers, the servants and even the ones he cared most about had all done it. In their eyes, he was worthless. Pathetic. A waste of space.
He grit his teeth. No more would he stand before such a gaze and do nothing. He leaned forward and allowed the gravity to do the rest. Without a sound, his body entered the pool of blood.
This time, instead of trying to swim, he kept still, letting his body sink beneath the surface.
The blood wrapped around him like a second skin, thick and suffocating. It pressed in on every side, a heavy, pulsing warmth that only grew hotter the deeper he went. Cain clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tight. His lungs ached almost immediately, instinct flaring like fire behind his ribs. Every part of him screamed to go back, to kick and claw his way to the surface, but he refused.
He held his breath, counting each second in his head, hoping the pain would distract him from the rising panic. But the pain did not come. Not yet.
Still no madness. Still no whispers. No hatred clawing at his mind. Just silence and heat.
Then his chest heaved involuntarily. His body betrayed him.
His mouth opened.
Blood rushed in.
Thick. Burning. It filled his lungs like molten iron, coating his throat, clawing down into his gut. His limbs jerked in protest, but it was already too late. His body locked up.
The pain began immediately after.
His muscles twisted and pulled themselves apart. Every fiber tore and rewove itself in patterns that didn't feel human. They reformed stronger, tighter, and harder. His tendons stretched and snapped, then fused again in new shapes that made his joints feel alien.
His bones cracked, splintered, and reformed. Over and over again. His spine popped like a chain pulled taut. His ribs expanded outward, then curved in tighter, reshaped into something meant to protect something more than just lungs.
His skin blistered. The top layer peeled away in sheets, floating upward like ash, revealing a new layer beneath. Sleeker. Colder. More efficient. Even without light, he could feel it sealing tighter to muscle and bone.
His jaw split open. His canines burst free, longer, sharper as if to declare that he himself was no longer the same but more of a carnivore when the pain surged behind his eyes.
Something twisted inside his skull. His vision went blank, then pulsed. His scalp burned, as if fire had been poured directly into the roots of his hair. The strands thrashed wildly in the thick liquid around him. Each second that passed drained more color from them, until not even black remained. Only white.
Then the abyss shifted.
Colorless. Silent. Still. Until a soft, flickering light cut through the dark.
It was Gaius, hovering above, watching and waiting for Cain to reemerge.
His pale spirit body glowed faintly, the only illumination in the endless dark. There was no sound. No movement. Only the soft ripple of the blood that Cain had vanished into.
Below him, Cain floated in silence. The pain had dulled to a quiet throb, buried deep in his bones. His body no longer twitched in protest. His lungs no longer screamed for air. The transformation had ended, but the stillness it left behind was heavier than any agony.
He drifted upward slowly, his limbs limp, his white hair trailing behind like strands of smoke. His eyes remained open, faintly glowing, casting iridescent glimmers into the black around him. The color looked unnatural in the abyss. Too vivid. Too alive.
When his head finally broke the surface, the blood clung to him like syrup. It rolled down his face and shoulders, thick with heat, refusing to let go. Cain gasped, drawing in his first real breath. It was sharp, ragged, but filled with something more than just air.
He pulled himself to the edge, each motion stiff, unfamiliar. His body obeyed, but it felt different. More precise. More responsive. Every muscle moved with a quiet power he had never known before.
Cain collapsed onto the stone, chest rising and falling as blood pooled beneath him. The flickering glow from Gaius reflected in the thin layer of liquid around his face. For a long moment, he just stared at it. He did not recognize his own reflection.
His hair was no longer black. It had turned to a pale, ghostly white, hanging wet and heavy around his jaw. His eyes, once dull and tired, now shimmered with a quiet, eerie light, casting back colors the world around him did not possess.
Gaius floated closer. His expression was one of amusement but his true feelings were unreadable.
"Congratulations~! You survived."
Cain didn't answer. He wasn't sure if he could. His throat still burned. His mind still reeled. Not from madness, but from change.
He looked down at his hands. The skin was different. Smooth. Hardened. His fingers twitched, sharper than before. The blood on them steamed in the cold air.
He had gone into the Pool expecting to lose himself. To drown in rage. To be consumed by what lurked in the ancient blood.
Instead, he had emerged as something else entirely. Not a beast. Not a monster. But no longer the boy he once was either.
Cain slowly pushed himself upright. The air felt colder now, as if the Pool had burned the warmth out of the world.
Gaius slowly twirled around Cain as if to appraise the changes before giving a satisfactory nod.
"Not bad. Not bad at all~! It looks like your body is ready to use Gluttony for the first time."
Cain's jaw tightened when he heard that. He looked around the abyss that seemed to have grown a little bit brighter in the time that he had been in the pool.
"Alright. What am I consuming?"
Gaius had a devilish grin on his face when he heard the question.
"The answer to your question my lovely little disciple….."
Gaius pointed a finger at himself
" is Me."