Brendon's eyes popped open as he inhaled a sharp breath. He let his eyes dart around, trying to figure out where he was. He could feel dirt beneath where he was lying. He could see rocks and bones illuminated by some unknown light source. He pushed himself up, catching a slight smoke in the air.

"Hello?"

He twisted his body, trying to find some indication of where he had fallen. He looked around again before looking down, eyes growing wide at the sight of his hand. The skin was gray and cracked, almost like stone rather than flesh.

It shifted in the dirt, bending at strange angles as Brendon brought it closer to his face to examine. His nails had darkened and sharpened themselves to points ontop of his changed skin.

"What the-AH!" Brendon cried out as a splitting pain errupted in his skull. He grabbed his head as his expression contorted from confusion to pain. He barely had a chance to recover before the pain was in his stomach. His hands shot down to that area, gripping it tightly. He gasped, dropping down to the ground.

The pain was moving like a boomerang inside of him, hitting multiple spots as it went. Brendon shut his eyes tightly, willing it to stop. He could barely bring himself upright after the pain became tolerable. He rose slowly, shakily bringing his hands up to grab the hem of his dirtied dress shirt. He could feel the skin on his stomach shifting. He lifted his shirt to find the same, crackling gray skin that now coated his left hand.

Brendon let out a shakey breath. "What is happening?" He whispered just before his bones began to shift.

His arms shot out in front of him. The bones cracked and popped loudly as their positions under Brendon's skin changed. Heat hit Brendon instantly, pushing him to his feet. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt again, ripping it open and tearing it off.

More of his skin had shifted. It was all fading to the cracked gray, slowly creeping along his skin. His chest was now decorated by swirled patterning made from his own skin. It stung as if someone had taken a hot poker to him. He grabbed his stomach again, hunching over and crying out.

It burned.

It hurt.

Brendon's right arm shot out to his side before retracting back. The bones in his torso were taking their turn to change. They pushed against Brendon's skin, threatening to stab through. He was thrown back to the floor as his back bones were pulled up as if they were a marionette attatched to strings.

Brendon looked up, his eyesight becoming blurry. He tried to cry out for help, but all that came was a scream as horns poked out of his forehead.

Wicked intentions

Embrace the dark

Let it take hold

RISE

Brendon's screams turned to demented laughter. Hell. How could he forget what he did? He could practically feel his eyes gleam as memories came flooding back to him.

Another part of him gasped, pulling him down to the ground. "No!" He hit the ground, feeling something twist his insides. "I didn't..."

You did it

You did it!

Liar

Cheat

Thief

Let me back

Brendon crawled forward, as if the voices that bounced around his skull could be outrun. He hadn't killed those people... The key... It all started after the key... His head shook from side to side as something inside of him laughed through his lips.

"You did!" It declared, speaking triumphantly through Brendon. He rose to his feet with a sneer. "I am a part of you now. I am you."

"No!" Brendon stumbled back, falling for what felt like the thousandth time. He felt dizzy. His hands gripped fistfulls of dirt as the voices in his head picked up again. Memories of the Devil's Key swam over his vision, only making him dizzier.

"Give up or give in." The thing inside of him snarled.

He could feel his horns growing longer. More skin singed around them, rising into more patterning like his chest. He felt his body rise and turn towards his arm. Everything had turned to gray. He looked like he had been carved from stone.

His head tilted from side to side, crackling through the entire motion.

Brendon wanted to fight the growing thing inside of him, but he felt so tired. His eyes were heavy, though his body seemed to be doing just fine. It moved well on its own as cackling filled the air around him.

"Liar! Liar!"

"A thief's heart belongs the key!"

"Hell is reborn!"

Brendon shut his eyes. The thing growing inside of him... It crept through him like ooze, clinging and infecting every surface with darkness. He could feel it spread its toxicity.

"Why?.." His voice was weak, but the question still escaped.

Brendon felt a sneer on his lips. "You shouldn't have taken the key."

Brendon hissed as the ooze reached his heart. It stung like nothing previous, bringing him to a whole new personal hell. It drained what little energy Brendon had left. It felt like it was creeping towards his soul.

Accept it

Embrace the dark

Welcome

Welcome!

"Welcome to my world of fun!" His voice echoed with laughter as the darkness seeped completely into Brendon's soul.