//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Flight and the Fall // Story: Change of a kind // by Charles Farrow //------------------------------// First there had been a loud and bright light, and then suddenly there was only sky... Whirling and tumbling uncontrollably through the air. There was no up or down, pummeled by the wind at all sides, a rotating view of the heavens above and the ground below, all that she could see. She was too dazed to even attempt flight, despite how every instinct, thought and emotion within her screamed to do so. Her body burned as a level of love she had never imagined possible seared her flesh and nerves, her body was not developed to be able to handle that amount of love... She and every other Changeling of her brood had been overloaded and thrown to the winds... All because of one little misstep, it could not have been her fault, it wasn't... Everything had been, Perfect... She was filled with a righteous indignation, a fury and a terror like never before... What would become of her? Was she... was she going to die? No, no, NO! She couldn't be, she refused to die! There had to be something, anything she could do!? Her wings, their delicate filaments, though filled with holes already, had been scorched such that there was barely any tissue left... So she tried to reach out with her magic, only to find her horn cracked along its base and the magic she issued forth leaking uselessly from it. Dammit all! Not like this! Plunging instead into the magic of her core, the magic of her very being, she tried to change her form, shapeshift into something, anything! like a bird, yes! She could feel the magic issue forth like flame across her carapace, but where she had expected the shape of a bird, her body had only become a mismatch of different creatures... Even that form she could only hold for a few seconds before a splitting pain within her head would have left her screaming, if there had been any air left in her lungs... She could feel the panic and the dread of all the changelings around her. Her mental block had been torn down and she could feel how every one of her brood was just as afraid of their fate as she was... She could feel the pain and terror of each one as they fought for survival just as she did... Would any of them survive? She considered her own life much more important than that of any of her drones, but as she felt the depth of their fear mingle with her own, she wished for them to live just as much as herself. They had to survive, there was no other option, no other choice. They had to... Time went on and the unequivocal agony that wrecked every part of her being and the flood of terror, despair and pain from every creature around her lessened... Some of her brood had already burned up, or given up altogether, those left struggling growing more and more desperate. Yet there was nothing she could do to stop it... As second's went by like minutes and minutes like hours, she struggled for her life, but their trajectory had long since changed from ascending higher and further, to simply falling towards the ground... As more and more of her brood gave up their will and their struggles, the building apathy and grim acceptance began to bleed into her own mind... She was no longer tumbling about, just falling, back towards the ground, eyes on the sky. Her instincts and her mind warred with one another, she did not want to die, but she was no fool, her body was already beginning to shut down. She would hit the ground, she would die and that would be it. No one ever came to save the monster when it fell... She looked upon the open sky with sorrow, with regret, with fury and with a grim acceptance. She could not help letting out a small chuckle of spite as she thought of the ironic injustice of her fate... How her mother had died before her, how she had vowed never to repeat her mistakes... It was all some sort of cruel joke by a world that had no care for her or her kind. In the end that's all they had ever been to them... Monsters... She closed her eyes one final time with a scowl, broken only by the pity she had for her brood. She only hoped there ends would be swift and painless... Then suddenly there was a feeling. Something, someling... was moving among her brood. Opening her eyes she saw it. a single drone had managed to regain full control of itself, and was using it's magic to stabilize another one, the look on the second one's face being one of relief and gratitude, as they in turn flew about trying to help any others they could, with what little time they had. The first drone looked around for anyone else it could help and locked eyes with her. In that instant she could both see and feel the panic that took to it as it realized just how badly wounded she was. A part of her screamed to demand it's help, for it to give everything it had to save her, but she couldn't find it in herself to do so... she was no fool... She was beyond saving at this point and despite her pride, she could tell that her time was up by now, regardless of whether she hit the ground or not... She closed her eyes once more, her scowl tempered by the knowledge that at least not all of her brood would perish alongside her this day... A rush of wind, a faint buzzing noise and then suddenly a pair of chitinous hooves were sprawled around her stomach, trying to grasp her, but much too small to get any real grip. She looked down in shock as the drone that had regained it's flight, was falling headfirst with her towards the ground. It's wings buzzed extraneously and it's face was scrunched up in great effort and pain as it tried to halt her plummet towards the ground. It's efforts did little but slow her fall a miniscule amount, and as she regained her composure she used what little strength she had left to try and dislodge the changeling from her. The fool was throwing away it's own life for nothing! The drone resisted her attempts with all it's tiny might and even used what little magic it had left trying to change her trajectory even if just a little. But time ran short, and though she managed to throw off the drone, it was too late, it had passed out using up all it had left trying to save her... Something inside her broke then, as she reached out weakly and held them close to her chest. Why?.. What a fool they were! Such a... such a fool... Yet as she held them near and thought of the futility of their actions, bloody tears broke from her eyes. She had never considered herself a mother, but at that moment she could not help but to lament the loss of her child... The ground grew close, there was no more time and so she once more closed her eyes for the last time... Then pain, a sickening snap, and darkness was all there was...