Lyra watched from her position twenty yards away, her eyes wide, her breath coming faster despite her attempts at composure.
She'd seen powerful men before. Aurelius commanded respect through presence and ability. But this... this was different. If a natural disaster had a human body, this is the form it would take.
'He's not even trying yet,' Lyra thought, her stomach churning. 'This is just... preparation. Just him removing restraints. What happens when he actually shows his power?'
Alaric's muscles began swelling. Slowly, as steam rose from his skin like heat bleeding from a furnace. His arms thickened. His chest rose and fell with breaths that sounded like forge bellows stoking flames.
His hair began to rise as it defied the pull of gravity. Floating upward in tendrils that moved independent of wind, each strand was charged with power that made the air itself feel heavier.
