i'll walk through the shadow with you

Romulus was fucked. Totally fucked. Well and truly fucked up beyond all recognition. The silver and slate brute sat in the dark and quiet pharmacy, breathing hard as he tried not to panic. Steely eyes glared at the shimmering crystals that had somehow sprouted out of his skin on his paw where he had cut himself on that crystal not too long ago. At first, he'd thought he'd just gotten some fragments or shards of the crystal in the wound, but when rinsing it out hadn't cleared them, he'd resorted to more drastic measures. He'd found a dagger in the armory, sanitized it, and the cut the small crystals out. The process had been painful, but effective.

That had been three days ago. Now, when he removed the bandage from his paw, he was horrified to find the crystals had returned, and were larger and more noticeable. An odd itching had begun along the ridge of his spine down his back as well, and though he couldn't see or reach it, he had a sinking suspicion that there would be small crystal shards beginning to poke through his skin and fur on his back as well. How the fuck was this happening?! This was illogical, impossible, unfathomable! None of this made sense! Crystals couldn't grow out of a body like this! There had to be an explanation; an answer that fit within the realms of possibility! But what?

Roman sucked in a sharp breath as he applied more antiseptic ointment over the wound, hoping perhaps some blend of herbs and alcohols would kill the crystal-like growths. He wrapped his paw in a fresh bandage, hoping to conceal the crystals some, then slipped back out of the pharmacy, glancing around to make sure no one else had seen him. The castle had gotten strangely quiet since the world changed, almost as if the Hallows had become a ghost town. Everyone kept to themselves, and after the feast, it was like they ere quarantining themselves away. Wandering back to the foyer, Roman had intended to sneak stealthily back upstairs and hide away in his room under the guise of feeling sick so he wouldn't have to encounter anyone—except that plan died the moment he saw Lillith descending the stairs in the direction of the great hall. "Lil!" he exclaimed with surprise, silver eyes wide as dinner plates while he tried to obscure his infected paw, oblivious to the small bluish crystals popping from his spine like stegosaurus plates.

"Speech"