Lurid Shade

Eduardo Chavez should've never survived. In becoming a member of the Resistance he knew the hazards of wandering the vast expanses of Praetoria's underbelly. Patrolling for ghouls were a common feature in his role as a resistance fighter, though one would change everything he knew about himself.

At first his group thought it was just an ambush to catch them off guard, but as the fighting continued it became clear that they were being herded. It was too late to try and escape, just fight until you were dead. Ed had his rifle and energy gloves ripped off when one had gotten too close to him, resorting to his fists and feet he was keeping them at bay by fighting aggressively towards them. A hunter hopped on his back to subdue him, Ed flung himself around and backed himself into a pillar hard, crushing the hunter's ribs loosened its grips as two other lunged towards him he pushed off the pillar kicking his legs forward into their jaws. He could still hear rifle fire and yelling in the general vicinity, meaning that there were still people alive. Darting around to find any object that could actually kill a ghoul were slim. There, he thought as he saw a lone baseball bat sticking out of a pile of garbage. Ignoring the black sticky substance on its handle and the pain on his hands as though thousands of tiny needles dug into his fingers and palms as he picked it up. Aiming for anything that appeared like a head he swung. The concrete floor began to stain crimson as cracked skulls and broken jaws hit the pavement.

His arms still hurt, only to glance down and see the onyx scale up his forearms, as if the black mass knew it was noticed it accelerated its pace, gold plates started to appear over his knuckles, pointed barbs jut out from his forearms. The black engulfed his torso and crept up his neck. He thought his head was going to exploded, clawing at his neck he screamed in pain to only have his mouth covered. Panic and despair set in as his hearing faded and eye sight dove into darkness.

Ed never lost consciousness, he could feel his body move without him and the resistance of his fists and legs from hitting objects he couldn't see or hear. His movements began to slow, was the fighting over, he leaned down and picked up two large objects, one over each shoulder, then he ran. He didn't know how far he went, but he eventually put down both people and scaled it seemed an endless amount of steps and ladders. Pushing open a manhole cover he could feel the warmth of the sun and the darkness that surround his eyes began to disappear and slowly he could hear the bustle of Imperial City around him. Scanning around to orient himself he looked into a store front's window, not seeing himself but a nightmarish figure clad in black and gold barbs on his hands and feet. He had become a lurid shade of the Underground.