//------------------------------// // Metamorphosis // Story: Her Forest // by AliziaRoElier //------------------------------// The timberwolves kept watch over Day’s unconscious form as the forest slowly adapted. Beneath him the orange disk rippled and shivered rhythmically with the beat of Day’s heart. The forest was calm around him and a thick aura of anticipation seemed to manifest itself in every creature’s mind while Day slept. Hours passed as Day’s clawed face stopped bleeding. The orange circle did not retain even a hint of a stain from his spilled blood when the last of it boiled away. The timberwolf that had clawed Day walked to his side and laid down to wait. ~%~ In a small dark corner of Day’s mind, he was free from the torrent of information he somehow had gained access too. In his diminished mind space he was reduced to a collection of base instincts and impressions. He could do little more than express fear and confusion and anger mixed with spurts of conflicted curiosity and happiness. Time passed slowly. He couldn’t remember a time where he wasn’t a shadow in his mind and he could not imagine life outside of his dark place. Day Roark. The name speared into his mind like a lance of light and sound. He knew it was him and yet not. It was his voice, his mind and yet not. Day Roark. Come back to me. In his dark place he heard the overlapping voices that threatened to enter. He instinctively shrank away in his mind from the vast presence that called to him. His own voice spoke to him with the force of a multitude beyond. You are Day. You are mine. I will make you mine. ~%~ The timberwolf stirred at Day’s side as it felt the orange circle beneath it shift and retract slowly into it’s previous ball. When it had finally refolded itself into a ball, it rolled on its own power toward Day’s slumped over form. It shrank to the size of a raindrop and slowly rolled its way into Day’s open mouth. The timberwolf laid back down and continued to wait. It did not react when Day’s body began to glow a light sky-blue, directly opposite to the wolf’s and the balls vermillion color. The glow started softly, barely visible underneath Day’s skin and streaming out of his mouth and nose with each breathe. It grew stronger with each passing second and breathe. The glow finally reached its maximum brightness and a low buzzing sounded from Day’s body. His breath caught and he stopped breathing. An instant later, Day’s body disintegrated to powder that was drawn into the light. ~%~ Without warning, Day’s dark hiding place was flooded with light. He could no longer hide from the forest and its insistent need to flood him with information. It cascaded against Day’s fragile mind like a waterfall upon a river rock. He felt like he was drowning in the sensation of supersaturation. Every feeling, every change in the forest was instantly transmitted to him and forced into his mental view for consideration and integration. He felt like he was once again floating for an eternity except rather than silence and emotion he was forced into loud, incessant noise and calculation. Over the sound of the forest, Day heard a loud crack and then the sound of shattering glass - suddenly everything was clear. Gone was the feeling of being overwhelmed. His mind rapidly built itself around the torrent of information the forest was providing him. The flow was diverted and divided, redirected and reconstructed. Like a network of rivers, Day forced everything into it’s own flow of information. The torrent was divided into little streams that he spilt again and again until what was once a single torrent of unorganized sound was divided into so many calm tributaries and streams. Well done, Day Roark. ~%~ With a gentle pulse of light, the metal ball that had entered Day’s body disintegrated. In it’s place, it left behind a single speck of vermillion light. The light slowly grew over the course of a minute, extending straight lines of vermillion light through the surrounding sky-blue glow. Slowly, the orange light and the blue light began to pulse in synchronicity with each other. Inside the network of light, metal slowly began to grow from nothing. It was alive and bright and the forest around it burst into an excited state of rustling plants, singing birds, and bellowing animals. The feeling of excitement raced outward quickly until the entire forest seemed to roar out in celebration. The metal followed the development of a human baby. Inside the nimbus of blue and orange light, the baby developed in fast-forward. After a minute, the baby had grown to normal size. After another ten, the baby resembled a toddler. After an hour, it had grown into a young adolescent. The forest slowly silenced and awaited its child to finally awaken. ~%~ His rebirth into the world surprised him. Day sat up slowly. In the time it took him to sit, he had completely surveyed the forest around him even the parts he could not see. He felt no pain or fear only a deep contentment akin to being held in the arms of a loving parent. Beside him, the timberwolf that had clawed him slept peacefully, the other two long gone. He could feel them running in the forest behind him. He stood up and looked around, everything looked new to his eyes. It was like being a child again, knowing that what he was seeing was only a small part of what was and that if he only reached out he would know more. He looked at his hands, cool metallic blue brushed metal. Alien skin. Alien hands. They were proportioned differently than he was used to. His finger and arms were longer. With a start he realized he was taller than before. With a sense of childlike wonder he examined himself. His skin was warmer than before and his vision sharper. He didn’t breathe. It didn’t seem like he needed to. His ears were slightly pointed and his face sharper. Elfin. It felt right. He felt right. He examined his memories. Though he knew he should not, he could not resist the feeling of bewilderment he felt when he looked at them. He knew they were his memories but they seemed alien, incomplete. He looked down at the timberwolf at his side. It had woken up while he was learning himself. Day’s thoughts aligned with the wolf and suddenly it could speak. I’m sorry... Its mental tone was sorrowful. A quick exchange of memory between them and the timberwolf completely outlined his regret at having to maul Day’s old face. Day raised a hand to his cheek and brushed it idly. He continued to feel the deep calm of the forest on his mind. He reached down to pet the wolf’s wooden skin with his metal hand. The contrast between them felt oddly fitting in his mind. “Meh. It’s fine. I know I should probably be insane now but I can’t feel anything other than calm.” His matter-of-fact admission forced him to consider his situation. He was in a forest. He’d been turned into a metal elf. He could feel the forest around him for a bit more than a mile. He knew things about the forest that he should not. Everything felt fine but it should not have. Abruptly, the entrance of a new animal to his sphere of knowledge forced his attention away from his idle introspection. It was something alien. Something the forest could not tell him anything about. It moved like a void through the forest perceivable only through the sense of nothingness it made in its surroundings. It was large, and seemed to change shape continuously like an amorphous blob. The forest herded its smallest charges away from the void and toward Day. Day could feel the fear the little ones had of the approaching creature. The forest calm burned away to a feeling a grim determination. The forest wanted it out, whatever it was. He would do so for it. Instinctive knowledge flooded Day’s mind like a library unpacking itself. Around him panels of shimmering blue light came into being covered in script he had never seen before but could read without issue. His fingers danced across the panels and soundlessly wisps sprang into being around him. They flew into trees to hide while Day continued to manipulate the glowing panels around him. With a final tap, the panels flashed and faded from view. He could feel the void approach him and turned to face it and his face blanked to a determined expression. The creature came into view and he blinked. It wasn’t one creature or void. It was six. Six small, brightly colored horses. He stared at them. They stared back. He blinked again. They six blinked back. The mounting tension Day had been feeling from the forest suddenly melted to relieved mirth and he started to guffaw. His previous calm didn’t want to return. “Oh god... haha... here I was getting ready for... haha, an attack...” He had to sit down as his laughter turned to semi-hysterical giggles, “Oh god... hahaha... I was afraid of Shetland ponies.” The six horses stared at him incredulously.