Chapter 147: Book 3: Knight
The first thing I experience is pain.
Kauku wasn't lying about the strain this Inspiration causes. It's not just the way it peels away at my Firmament and tears me apart from within—it's the physical change, too. I stagger away from the ledge before collapsing to the ground as a series of cracks resound within my body. It's not a sound so much as it is a kick of bass that's accompanied by a wave of pain so intense I taste copper in my mouth.
It takes me a moment before I realize that the sensation is coming from my bones. They're realigning. They're moving inside my body, snapping at the joints and tearing apart flesh so that they're on the outside instead of within. Then they begin to grow, popping and cracking this time audible in the air itself.
My body is physically reshaping itself to accommodate my use of this Inspiration.
Part of that shift is the alteration and movement of muscle, skin, and bone. My skin turns hard, density shifting until it turns into a gleaming silver-blue shine—not that I can spare a moment to appreciate the color. It doesn't help that I can sense a presence alongside these changes, guiding them, making each change as it sees fit; the Knight treats my body and Firmament as if it were nothing more than putty.
It's agonizing. It's intrusive. It's something foreign that's decided I'm nothing more than a vessel for everything it represents. The Knight molds me like clay, making changes, turning me into a copy of it.
My vision blurs. My fingers claw into the ground, easily slicing through the roots and stone beneath them. I see in the corner of my eye the sight of a gauntlet in place of my fists—and this is truly in place of my fists, because I can't feel the flesh and bone beneath it. Instead, pure Firmament forms itself into something that isn't quite flesh.
Not unlike what I've seen of the Integrators, now that I think about it.
"Ethan!" Ahkelios's voice is worried but distant; I can't hear him quite as well. His words come to me as though I were hearing them through a sheet of metal, slightly distorted and with a tinny overtone. It takes me a moment to realize that my vision is restricted, too. I can see directly in front of me, but not to the side.