Darkness in Disguise

some barely older than Malcolm, others grizzled veterans, moved through drills with practiced efficiency. Sergeant Thorne, a hulking

om the chaff! You'll learn to swing steel and sling light. Our enemies don't care about your sob s

began to shimmer. Her form condensed, shrinking until she was no larger than Malcolm's thumb, her blue hair a vibrant wisp, her green skin barely

ered, her voice a faint, melodious hum that only h

, dodging and weaving, parrying imaginary blows. Years of living in a restricted environment had honed his agility, and the latent energy from the D

d and focused pure energy, firing bolts of concentrated light. The recoil was minimal, but aiming required p

Your eyes might be like a cat's, but

tant targets. He looked over to see another recruit, a white boy with bright yellow hair that fell over piercing blue eyes,

ot bad, just... slow," he offered, his voice calm and surprisingly frien

a hand. "Alex Vektor. You're Malcolm, r

the easy camaraderie. "Yeah, that's

s knee-high," Alex replied, gesturing to his rifle.

x's shoulder and zipped playfully around his ear. "And this," Alex chuckled,

r, occasionally nudging his ear with her tiny head. It was then Malcolm realized that other recruits, too, had their own fai

e more he exerted himself, the more he pushed his newly awakened senses, the clearer the connection to th

inent one: New Ability U

gaining experience. A quick mental query to Sara,

... Ah, yes! This is a fascinating one. It allows you to temporarily stretch and transform your arms and legs into mon

idea of transforming them into something monstrous, something akin to the mindless ones he was meant to

right arm twitched, then elongated, the skin rippling, growing darker, and suddenly, razor-sharp claws erupted from his fingertips. His arm swelled, muscles bulging grotesquely, b

lled with awe. "But remember, these transformations cons

were best kept, at least for now. The training continued, but for Malcolm, it had become more than just drills. It was a crucible where his true power began to awaken, fueled by every swi