The ground was still. Too still. Then Braun's buried finger twitched.
Kra-KOOM!
The earth exploded outward in a violent geyser of rock, dirt, and molten slag. A massive silhouette burst from the crater like a demon clawing free from hell, and Braun rose in one fluid, terrifying motion. Knees first, then shoulders, then the full monstrous bulk of him straightening to his new height.
Twelve feet tall.
His skin had darkened to near-black, veins glowing with grey light beneath the surface. Steam hissed from every pore, and his shoulders were broader than a doorway, his chest a slab of armored muscle.
His eyes burned with the same furious grey as the cracks in his flesh, and the air around him warped like heat radiating off desert sand.
Cassandra's breath caught, but it wasn't fear. A slow, dangerous grin spread across her face, her blue eyes alight with something feral and thrilled.
"Stage Two," she whispered, almost reverently.
