Rather than tuck the amulet away in a pocket where it could just fall out again, Alex decided it was wiser to just wear it around his neck, at least until he could find a safer place to put it. Assuming it really did belong to Cael’s brother, it would be poor manners to borrow the fellow’s clothes and then end up losing his property on top of that, especially since whatever this necklace was it seemed to have some kind of value.
And so, without even a second thought, Alex took the loop of braided leather and pulled it over his head. The necklace was quite long, letting it easily hang around his neck, which was still thick and muscular thanks to the effect of the vigor potion, and the jade amulet rested quite comfortably between his magically empowered pecs. But as soon as the cool stone touched Alex’s skin, he felt an odd thump from pendant, like a tiny heartbeat beating next to his own. As he felt the stone grow warmer against his skin, the thump-thump began to grow stronger, more rhythmic, until it was beating in time with his own heart.
“What the-,” Alex muttered as he reached up and let his fingers brush the odd necklace, feeling a spark jolt from the stone to his fingertip and zoom up his arm and down his spine. The odd tingle found a spot right at the center of his back and began to pulse, sending waves of buzzing energy down every nerve in Alex’s entire body, from the tips of his toes to the top of his scalp and everywhere in between.
“Alex, what’re ‘ya doing…? Damn, I knew it, musta pushed ‘ya to hard…” Cael muttered worriedly as he took a step toward Alex reached out to place one of his large hands upon Alex’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get ‘ya inside to cool down, before-”
Cale stopped as he touched Alex’s skin, feeling the pulse rippling through the other man’s body. With an audible clenching noise, the two men watched in amazement as the muscles on Alex’s shoulders, arms, and upper back exploded in size, the skin growing tight enough to see each muscle throbbing with newfound strength. Even though the vigor potion from earlier had toned and strengthened Alex’s body considerably, this sort of strength was of an entirely different level; his arms grew more than three times bigger around, his shoulders broadened by a foot on each side, and his neck was nearly as thick as his entire head.
And the changes were only beginning.
The surging powerful spread down each arm, moving from his biceps to his forearms to his hands. Each finger thickened and lengthened, his palms growing to the size of plates, and Alex felt like each hand was powerful enough to crush stones to dust.
The jolt of power rippled down his chest, his pecs heaving and twitching as powerful muscles pushed their way to the surface, and what little fat remained on his chest was incinerated, leaving only pure, lean muscle behind. Ridges of chiseled abs formed a path from his meaty pecs to his navel, and his entire torso grew thicker, taller, and more powerful with each passing moment.
Cael could only watch in stunned silence as his new friend’s legs grew before his eyes; Cael thought he was a strong guy, but whatever was happening to Alex was turning the previously scrawny young man into a beast of muscle. Alex’s legs were soon as thick as tree trunks, and with a groaning noise the leather of the boots Cael had loaned him tore apart at the toe and ankle as his feet nearly doubled in size. And (as if to go along with his now-larger hands and feet), there was a distinct swelling going on around Alex's crotch, bulging outward lewdly before snaking down the leg of his trousers, which were now so tight over his legs that they left very little to the imagination about what lay within.
In just a few short moments, Alex had grown nearly a foot and a half in height (putting him half a head taller than even Cael) and gained over 100 pounds in pure muscle. Alex was left panting and exhausted, his entire body shaking as every cell in his body was touched by whatever power resided in that odd necklace he’d picked up.
“W-what jusht happened…” Alex finally managed to say, his voice suddenly deep and booming as it rumbled out from his newly expanded chest and throat. “It’sh crazy, everything’sh… H-hold on, why can’t I shpeak right…?”
Indeed, whenever Alex tried to talk, his voice came out slurred and distorted, as though he’d stuffed stones in his cheeks. He felt another odd pulse, this time in his jaw, and he curiously reached one of his massive fingers into his mouth and felt around. Beneath his fingers, he could feel the incisor on his lower jaw growing, pushing its way further up from his gums until it passed his upper lip, pushing his other teeth to the side as it grew thicker than a man’s thumb and rested evenly with the bottom of his nostrils. Alex felt an ache in his skull and a dull buzz as his brow pushed forward slightly and his nose thickened, giving his previously boyish face a rugged, masculine appearance.
“T-those… No way, are they… tusks?” Cael gaped incredulously, cautiously reaching his hand out and tapping the thick teeth protruding from Alex’s mouth. “Damn… bigger than mine…”
“T-that’sh what you’re worried about here!?” Alex growled, his deeper voice suddenly seeming much intense now that it was backed up by so much muscle.
“Well, no, ‘course not… I mean, they are really big though, and…” Cael replied nervously, and the orc-blooded man took a step back and looking up and down Alex’s body with equal parts concern, fascination, and attraction. “Not just the tusks… everything about you’s just… I mean, wow…”
Alex was about to fire back with a retort, but an intense itch on his chest made him glance down to where the strange pendant was still hanging down between his pecs. At the spot where it touched, a thick patch of curly black chest hair was beginning to blossom, itching as it wrapped its way around each nipple and down his chest and under his trousers, coating his legs and crotch in wiry, thick body hair.
Finally (at least, Alex hoped), small spots of green began to bloom across his entire body, spreading outward like ink-blots over his skin and dying every inch of him a deep, forest-green shade even darker than the grassy color of Cael’s skin.
The throb in the necklace finally subsided and it grew cold once more, the green jade becoming dark and dull. There was a moment of silence as Alex and Cael both took in what had just happened. Alex look at himself with horror and curiosity, gingerly touching his new muscles or running a finger up and down his tusks, while Cael just stood back and looked in amazement at the other man’s transformation (and, he hoped, not making it too obvious that he was sporting the world’s hardest erection). Cael looked at Alex and he no longer saw a scrawny, weak human, but rather a tall, powerful, and extremely attractive orcish man. Not an orc-blood like him, a full-blooded example of orcish malehood, the sort rarely seen outside of the northern territories.
After what felt like hours, Cael finally spoke up. “Alex… What in the hells just happened? ‘Ya don’t think it was a bad batch of vigor potion, do ‘ya?” he asked quietly, breaking Alex’s tranced inspection of his own body.
“Uhh… N-no, I don’t think so,” Alex said, his speech no longer quite as distorted now that his jaw and skull had reshaped to accommodate his tusks a bit better. “It was this… well, this necklace? I found it in the pocket of those pants you loaned me and-”
“Give me that!” Cael exclaimed, quickly pulling the amulet off of Alex’s neck and looking at it intently. “...Orc runes and druid craftsmanship, I think. Where the hell did-”
Cael’s eyes narrowed and his lips drew back, revealing a few more inches of tusk than usual. “...Roy. That idiot… I knew he was obsessed with orc stuff but… Gods damn it, this is just…!!”
“Uhh… Cael? W-w-what is that thing, anyway? What do the runes say?” Alex inquired as Cael angrily stared at the amulet, swearing up a storm.
“How the hells should I know what it says!? I don’t read orcish runes!” Cael growled peevishly. “But I think we can guess what this is, can’t we!? That dumb little brother of mine wasn’t satisfied being quarter-orc, so he paid off some artificer to make something that would turn him full orc! Only you ended up activating it before he did… Damn it, if I find out he dipped into the ranch’s budget to pay for a toy like this…”
“W-we can reverse this, right? Maybe if I put the amulet on again, it’ll…”
“Look at this thing! It’s dead, drained, knackered out!” Cael sighed, holding up the dull, black stone that had once sparkled green. “...I mean, don’t get me wrong, it did a good job on ‘ya, but I imagine this isn’t ideal for ‘ya, is it?”
Cael took a deep breath, calming himself down a bit. “Okay, okay… This is… well, it isn’t okay. But you’re not harmed, at least. We can figure out a way to deal with this…” he muttered as he paced up and down the field a few times, while Alex just stood there baffled at his sudden transformation from a human being to an orc...