A sharpened gaze had been following Wormwood's every move for a while now, every step being carefully monitored and followed from a distance, malicious intent behind the eyes that followed Wormwood. The now hyena had a long history with the former prince of the Pride, none of it very good. Although, ultimately none of the wild canine's troubled past was the fault of Wormwood, who had been nothing but a glint in his father's eye when everything with the hyena's family had happened. It had been many years ago, and the hyena – known to many as Arethus – had been a member of the family that served Wormwood and Poetking's grandfather, advising him and protecting him from day to day. However, eventually Arethus's father had failed in his job to protect the now late king, and Wormwood's grandfather had suffered a terrible death because of a mistake that Arethus's father had made. This had eventually led to Arethus and his family being exiled from the pride that had once been full of their friends and family, that was now hostile and cursing their entire family for what had happened to their beloved king. Arethus could still remember what had happened the day after they had been exiled, the memories still sharp and crystal clear in his mind.

---

The younger lion felt cold rage running through his veins as he faced his father, the older and nearly decrepit lion looking at him with a sad and apologetic gaze that could never truly make up for what he had done to their family in his failure. Arethus had been trying to hold himself back on their entire journey outside of the territory of the pride, but his limit finally snapped, and he roared in his father's face, fire and fury burning within him as he stepped closer to the elder lion, his claws slipping forth from his paws as he spoke, [glow=purple,1,400]"This... all of this.. is your fault! They might've exiled us, but you're the one who let the king die in the first place! You failed you're job, and dragged the rest of us down with you! You... you are going to suffer for what you've done. To me. To our family. To everyone!"[/glow] His father opened his mouth to speak, some sort of plea to stop Arethus from making a mistake that he couldn't take back, but it was too late. Arethus had already launched himself forward, and his claws sank into his father's throat mercilessly, blood spouting forth and covering his paws, marking him permanently with his irreversible sin.

After his father was dead, Arethus had felt a deep agony within him that couldn't be settled just from his father's defeat. He needed more. He needed revenge on those that had thrown them out. On everyone that continued to live their happy lives while he and his kin suffered because of one mistake. So, he had taken his father's scruff up in his mouth and dragged him along through the wilds, ignoring any dirt that entered his father's wounds, or anything else that got in his way. When he found that they were a suitable distance from the pride that they had once called home, the lion had decided to call upon a great and evil power that everyone in the pride had been warned against since they had first been born: the power of necromancy. It had taken a lot of preparation, and a bit of memory refreshing, but eventually he had ended up with a suitable shrine, murmuring incantations until eventually his father's corpse rose in a new and grotesque undead form, and he let out a maniacal cackle, grinning at his own handiwork. He knew that this was only the beginning of his plans, ones that would eventually lead him one day to Tanglewood's doorstep. He was going to get his revenge on the royal family of the pride, the pride itself, and all those that continued to live their happy carefree lives. He and his undead would one day rule this world, against all odds.

---

It had been many years since he had first started his advance across the wilds, and since then he had taken on his new presently canine form, as well as amassing more and more soldiers for his undead army. He had traveled from small group to small group, keeping a low profile and either waiting for others to die or killing them himself in order to add new bodies to his advance. Usually he was quiet, composed, and focused, but since he had first discovered the grandson of the family that had thrown his family out of the pride was in Tanglewood, he had lost all semblance of composure. He had stalked the lion constantly, waiting and watching for the moment when he would be able to make his move and cause Worm the suffering that his family had caused Arethus all those years ago. He was going to make the lion his undead general, but he wasn't going to kill him. Instead he was going to force Wormwood into a new undead form, and slowly used his powers to take over Worm's mind, making it so that he was fully aware and trapped in his own body as Arethus forced him to commit atrocities, so that he would truly suffer.

He had been waiting for the right moment when Worm would be easy enough to change, and now Wormwood was at one of his lowest points, suffering immeasurably from the numerous losses that the group had suffered lately, along with being filled with panic and worry, and fear that everyone hated him. After what had happened with Pastel, Arethus was delighted to find that Wormwood has almost no will left to fight with, and the necromancer had followed the lion to his home just a few days later, being careful not to be seen by anyone and to not smell of anything. The hyena had eventually ended up behind Wormwood's home, peering inside as the lion slowly laid down, resting his chin against his bed and sighing heavily in pain and regret. Worm closed his eyes and let his wings flop down as exhaustion gripped him, a soft and tired groan leaving him as he tried to empty his mind to no avail. Arethus grinned at the state the other was in, cackling softly ro himself before he lifted a paw. He slowly began to draw one of his elaborate runes on the wall of the lion's house, waiting until Wormwood was asleep before pressing his paws against the rune and incanting softly, [glow=purple,1,400]"Absinthium, et pueri mei exterminatore, linitis pati. Et exaltabit te ut inmortuus facie ad inferos perpetuo trans meo pati. Ut sit nomen meum audit, et scit rex, Arethus."[/glow] Once the incant was over, Arethus grinned as Wormwood shifted in his sleep, a strange force overtaking him. As the transformation began, Arethus quickly scrubbed away the rune from the wall, turning and high tailing it pit of there before he could be spotted. He would return later to continue his work, and to make Worm his servant.

Once Arethus was gone, Wormwood shifted once again in his sleep, a strange tingle running through his body as things began to shift. His wings slowly pinned back down against his spine, the bones and muscles melting away slowly back down into his being as the fiery golden wings faded away, his body continuing to twist and change as the tingling got worse and worse. His entire form seemed to shrink down on his bed, becoming sharper and more canine looking as time passed, until eventually his old form was gone, replaced with something far more grotesque and unsettling. The first thing that most would notice was his new and odd coloring. The fur on his body had become short and more of like a peach fuzz, and had gained a dead and cold looking light blue coloring like rotted flesh. As the fur moved down his legs, it became thicker and more fluffy, and also descended into a dark blue that bordered on black, his paws now ending in thick and sharp claws that seemed more like protrusions of bone rather than normal claws. His neck and head area were also very different, with his face being extremely gaunt and sharp, his mouth seeming pulled back and almost rotted into an eternal grin or grimace, it was hard to tell. He had two small bone horns coming from his head, along with two strange bone protrusions sticking out sharply from his cheeks. His ears had also morphed into a more batlike shape, stretching back and going from blue to purple at the tips. In addition to all of this, he had a thick and wild looking mane of fur going down his neck and stopping at his spine that was a dark purple color. He looked totally unlike his former self, twisted beyond repair and seeming downright unpleasant.

When he finally woke up, he still felt so worn out that he didn't even notice how much smaller he was in comparison to his large bed, not even noticing the strong muscles that rippled beneath his now very short and choppy pelt. Giving a long yawn, the exhausted former lion thought of nothing odd as he dragged himself out of his home, the loud clicking of his new huge claws knocking against the wood floor of his home falling on completely deaf ears. Once he reached the porch of his house, he slowly sat down at the top of the steps, the hound stretching out his spine and letting out another long yawn as his newly enlarged ears pinned back against his head. It was at this point when his very drowsy mind seemed to catch up only slightly, and he blinked down at his dark blue and shaggy clawed paws in confusion, lifting one of them up to inspect it slowly. He still wasn't quite getting why things seemed to utterly different, and it probably wouldn't be long before someone came along and questioned why the dead looking hellhound was sitting on the deck of Wormwood's house.

( tl;dr since this got pretty long: a necromancer that was formerly wronged by worm's family decided to change him into an undead creature so that he can eventually control him, and wormwood now looks like this instead of his usual bright lion self. he just woke up and is still pretty groggy so hasn't really realized the depth of the change yet )