Sevanouir: Rebirth (Snippet 2)

Sylas' grip tightened and he shoved the man into one of the bookcases, pressing his arm into his neck.

            “Better now?” he asked, sarcasm lacing his voice. “You seem to know a lot, but tell me, if you want a five-star performance, what was my father's nickname for me?” The man's unmoving eyes suddenly wavered, rolling to the left and then the right before returning to their blank stare.

            “This is no time for games, son,” the man answered, his voice suddenly sharper and cracking.

            “Wrong. It was ‘little devil’.” Sylas threw all his rage into the punch that connected with the man's jaw. He fell to the floor in a heap, knocking books off the shelf to land on top of him. Sylas could feel a throbbing pain in his hand from the impact, but the satisfaction he felt trumped it by far.

            “If you want to keep up this charade, then get up. My old man would not be finished by one little punch.” He sneered as he knelt down by the body. “Let me ask you again. Why did you think this was a good idea?” The man responded with a gurgling, almost inhuman, noise. “Yeah, I can't come up with a reason either.”

            “Di...Di...” The man's voice had changed; it was high-pitched, nearly shrieking. His hand pounded the floor, twisting to the point that Sylas should have heard bone snap. The man's left leg followed, turning so that his knee was facing up to the air while he was still face down. He began to rise.

Sylas stepped back as adrenaline pumping through him; he broke out in a cold sweat. The man's body began to disappear, replaced by a skeletal frame with skin that look like ash. Its fingers elongated into points, and its feet followed. The last thing to change was its face. Sylas watched as the visage of his father disappeared. His hazel eyes mutated into pools of black, with long, hazy white slits for irises. The skin paled and hair disappeared. Teeth sharpened and grew to the point that they spilled out of its mouth. The last thing he heard come out of his father's disintegrating face chilled him.

            “Die, son.”