Clyde groaned loudly, both hands grasping the tube feeding into his mouth and oxygen supply, "argh," "cough," he yanked the hose out from his throat, his hands working in frantic alternating motions as he pulled out an impossibly long line of tubing that made him feel as if his internal organs were being turned inside out as it dragged free. After a desperate twenty-minute struggle to pull the entire hose from his mouth,
"Aaaaaah,"
He let out a silent scream as agony surged through his entire body, especially deep within his chest, but then he noticed something impossible, his oxygen mask had slipped open, yet he was breathing effortlessly in the fluid; or rather, to be exact, he wasn’t breathing at all. He then began tearing off the rest of the lines attached to his body one by one, until only a single attachment remained: a thick black cable embedded deep in his back.
He turned his head to look through the glass of the pod and scan his surroundings, dimly realizing that the environment outside bore no resemblance to his classroom, revealing instead a vast, cavernous room where dim lighting rendered everything a shadowy blur. When he tried to move, the cable in his back held him firmly in place. His face twisted into a fierce mask of anger and his jaw clenched tight, "crasss," he threw his body forward with pure force to sever the thick cable plugged into his spine.
"Aaaaaaargh,"
He screamed inside the liquid, which churned into a frothy mess from his relentless thrashing inside the chamber as he kept driving his body forward. Once the cable finally snapped free, the pod lost its balance and tipped precariously forward, "crash," the glass structure shattered upon impact, dumping its contents onto the floor as the liquid spilled across the concrete,
"Ugh,"
Slowly, Clyde pushed himself up with both arms and rose to his feet, his eyes widening in sheer shock and his mouth hanging agape as a wave of intense panic washed over him, staring at his surroundings as cold reality violently set in. He found himself standing inside a massive, warehouse-like facility bathed in twilight shadows, surrounded by endless rows of identical containment pods filling the enormous space as far as the eye could see. Stepping forward, he turned to inspect the pod directly beside his own,
"Gasp,"
He recoiled in horror upon seeing Monica suspended inside the tank, wrapped in the exact same tangle of cables that had bound him moments ago, her lines draining blood out of her body while a yellowish fluid pumped back in. Judging by her wasted, severely anemic physique, Monica had been trapped in this state for a long time, and Clyde reached out with trembling hands to touch the glass of her pod, shuddering in absolute disbelief as tears streamed down his face,
"W... what is happening... where are we really? Why is Monica... like this?" Clyde thought in terror.
He turned to look at the pod next to Monica’s, discovering his mother and father suspended in the exact same state, and when he turned around, he saw Tyler and Kate locked inside pods directly across from him in identical condition. He pressed a hand against his own chest to find no heartbeat whatsoever, and looking down at himself, he was horrified to see his skin transformed into a mummy-like texture with bulging gray veins, even if he wasn’t quite as emaciated as Monica and the others in the tanks.
Before he could process any of it, the heavy thrum of approaching footsteps echoed through the hall, and Clyde turned to see dozens of flashlight beams cutting through the gloom at the far end of the pod aisle near him. Suddenly, his mind flashed back to the dream he experienced after hearing the melody in class, all the faces of the women and children were a blur in his memory, except for the clear, unmistakable face of the little silver-haired girl smiling at him. He knew that face, and he remembered her,
"Celes... that’s right... Celes... I... promised," he murmured in his head.
Suddenly, "blazz," a flood of blinding spotlights pinned him in place, forcing Clyde to instinctively shield his face with his arms as he heard the heavy march of approaching boots and the sharp clatter of rifles being leveled in his direction. Slowly lowering his arms, he turned his head and froze at the sight of a squad of heavily armed soldiers lined up in combat stance in front of him, their faces pale with utter shock and terror,
"What... what kind of monster are you?" a soldier yelled.
"M... monster?" Clyde thought in confusion.
Clyde opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out, so he grabbed his throat and opened his mouth once more, "kaaah," trying desperately to force words past his vocal cords to no avail.
"Huh... I... can’t... speak?" he asked himself in bewildered panic.
Hearing the sharp click of weapons being raised, he turned around and raised his hands above his head in surrender, but the movement only pushed the soldiers further onto edge; then, "blak," Clyde turned his head slowly, feeling something behind him unfurl as his hands went up, a pair of massive moth wings attached to his back, bearing terrifying, open red eye patterns that stared fiercely into the room.
"Huh... what are these wings?" Clyde thought as he stared at the two wings spread beside him.
From the soldiers’ perspective, Clyde appeared as a terrifying humanoid figure with pale gray skin like a corpse, laced with glowing red veins resembling lava worms, enveloped in pitch-black shadows with only two piercing red eyes visible alongside massive moth wings patterned with blood-red eyes.
Clyde kept his hands raised while his vision darted frantically around the room, thoroughly disoriented as he realized he wasn’t looking through just two eyes, but six, granting him wide-angle peripheral vision without needing to turn his head; because of this expanded sight, he spotted several soldiers creeping up behind him, aiming their rifle barrels at his back to prepare to bring him down,
"I’m not an enemy... please don’t shoot... what is actually happening," Clyde pleaded in his head, unable to speak aloud.
Clyde took a single step back, but the soldiers instantly raised their weapons and lowered their heads, taking aim to fire. Clyde froze once more, unable to voice his protest, when suddenly, "na...na...na," the haunting melody echoed through his head again; noticing the soldiers showed no reaction, he realized he was the only one hearing the song, and then a vivid vision flashed before his eyes, a monstrous creature bursting into the room, charging the soldiers, and tearing them apart, a vision so horrific that Clyde instinctively lowered his hands.
"Get away... hurry up and leave... or you’re all going to die... get out of here,"
Clyde waved his arms frantically to shoo the soldiers away, but the men, unable to understand his gestures, only grew more terrified and locked their fingers on their triggers, leaving Clyde in complete despair as he failed to warn the soldiers who, according to his vision, were standing on the brink of death.
["Sing with me, Clyde."]
A girl’s voice echoed inside Clyde’s head, making him clutch his temples as he tried to process the relentless musical melody playing in his mind.
["Come on, Clyde. You know this tune. Let’s sing it together."]
Hearing the voice in his head, a strange emotion surged in his chest, recognizing the girl’s voice without having any idea who she was or where he knew her from, bringing his other hand up to hold his head between both palms.
Clyde closed his eyes, listening intently to the melody deep in his heart, realizing that he truly did know every note of the song, and without consciously meaning to, his mouth began to soft-whistle the haunting tune, throwing the soldiers into further confusion.
[Song Confirmed.]
[Combat Mode Activated.]
[Transformation process commencing.]
"Huh... what? Aaargh!"
Suddenly, Clyde’s entire body erupted in searing heat, forcing him to double over, wrap his arms around himself, and collapse to his knees,
"W... what is this... it’s so... hot... it hurts!" Clyde groaned internally, unable to scream aloud.