I shifted my weight, heavy with sleep. I was lying on my bed, wrapped tightly in my blanket, except it felt… slimy? Opening my eyes, my vision cracked and fragmented. Doubling as images overlapped.
Pain spiked through my skull, as if a swarm of bees were buzzing furiously inside my brain, their stingers jabbing relentlessly. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. In and out. In and out… I could hear two heart beats! My eyes shot open, and the images fought for dominance, constantly swapping which was in focus and which was a hazy background.
I tried focusing on what was directly in front of me. A lantern? No… a person? Both? I zeroed in, forcing one image into focus while letting the other recede. Slowly, the buzzing ceased, and I could see clearly: a lantern hung from a desk on the wall in front of me, a little flame elemental was sleeping, giving off a small light. Wait… how could it be hanging from the wall? Oh! I must be on my side, in my bed. I knew that.
I closed my eyes and tried to slap my forehead in embarrassment, but my arms wouldn’t move. My blanket was holding me down. My fingers twitched beneath it. I reopened my eyes, only for my vision to overlap once more. It was like staring through a translucent picture, only to see another image shifting behind it.
The buzzing stirred faintly again, but at least I knew how to stop it. I forced myself to focus on the ceiling, banishing the buzzing before it could return. I swallowed hard, my jaw clenching slightly as I breathed through my nose.
My blanket was draped over me, but something about it felt… off. ‘Wait. It’s just draped over me? How is it holding me down?’ My toes curled instinctively beneath the sheets.
But as I blinked, reality unraveled. The warmth of my bed faded, replaced by something colder, something deeper. A slow, creeping sensation spread across my skin, like fingers tracing patterns I couldn’t see. Then, before I could understand, the world tipped, no, I tipped. My body shifted, my breath caught, and suddenly, I was upright. But I was no longer in my bed.
The breeze was gone, replaced by the sensation of thick, oozy liquid surrounding me. Yet somehow, I could breathe just fine. I wasn’t drowning. I wasn’t even struggling.
I tried to move, but… I was held by something. They shifted gently around me, as if adjusting to my movements.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to wake up from whatever this was. Please, let this be a dream. But as I clenched my eyes tighter, I could feel it. The weight. The gentle but insistent pressure curling around my body, like coils wrapping me in their cold, unyielding grip.
My breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t stop it, the panic rising…
My heart hammered so violently, I thought it might burst through my ribs. My shoulders trembled faintly.
I felt Lumisiel’s energy rise in me, bright and instinctive, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
My intention was clear. Off. Get off. My will flared, and I let the magic fire.
A pulse of warmth burst outward, but not here.
Somewhere distant, my blanket flung itself off the bed.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
I froze.
That was my one shot, it... it didn’t work.
How did it not work?!
“Oh Lumisiel, please help me.”
I was out.
Out of magic.
The world wobbled beneath me, like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff.
Just me, and this thing, and the cold.
without magic, I wasn’t safe anymore… I was just a girl. Small. Helpless. stuck in something I couldn’t fight.
I have to move. I have to get out.
But I couldn’t. The more I struggled, the more I realized I was trapped, held by something. Something that felt alive.
The air was thick, stagnant, and the pressure intensified. My skin crawled. The sensation was wrong, cold and slick, like something wet and muscular pressing along my arms and sides.
Something was holding me.
I couldn’t see it. Couldn’t name it. But I felt it smooth in some places, lined in others, coiling around me without letting go.
My mind raced, imagining the worst.
My chest heaved in shallow bursts. My fingers twitched, but the weight wouldn’t let go.
I didn’t know where I was. Everything was unfamiliar. Every sound felt muffled, distant, like I was submerged in something, deep underwater. My breath came in short, shallow gasps. I felt dizzy, like the world was spinning in all directions at once.
“Olivander! Help! Mom, Dad.”
Tentacles.
The word slammed into me like cold water.
Something brushed against my cheek, smooth and cool, like the surface of water, but heavier. I sucked in a breath, my pulse quickening. Tentacles! I froze No, no, no, no, my mind screamed. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think.
That’s what this felt like. That’s what this was.
My chest seized. I knew this feeling. Too many limbs, moving without bones, slick and patient and wrong. I hate cephalates.
One had latched onto my ankle once during a river harvest. It wrapped twice before Olivander hacked it off.
I hadn’t stepped in open water since.
And now...
I blinked hard, trying to force my own thoughts down. Was I underwater? Why could I breathe properly?
Calm down. Focus on that. Just breathe, you are breathing somehow.
They held me tight, curling and patient. My entire body shook.
No. I wasn’t being held by tentacles. No, no... I—I was wrapped in a burrito blanket. A slimy burrito blanket. Yes. That’s all.
The absurdity of the thought eased some of the tension building in my chest. A shaky exhale escaped my lips.
I let myself relax, not thinking about it. Definitely not.
I should figure out what’s going on.
My gaze drifted downward, definitely not looking for tentacles. I suppressed a shudder.
I was inside a semi see-through pouch, swaying slightly above the ground.
Like a fig in a tree.
Yes. That’s it. I was a fig. In a tree.
One goal was clear: I needed to get away from the tentacles, I mean, escape the fig.
The not, tentacles tightened in response, as though sensing my resolve.
I pulled desperately against them, but they only squeezed tighter.
The pressure wrapped around my arms like thick ropes, tightening with every twitch.
I kicked, twisted, anything, but the pouch pulsed in response, adjusting to hold me better, like it was learning.
My fingers scraped against the slick interior, looking for leverage, for anything to grab.
Nothing. Just smooth, awful softness.
My arms were starting to go numb. Pins and needles first. Then just pins.
I kept fighting anyway. I had to.
“Please! Release me!” I yelled, my voice muffled by the liquid surrounding me.
To my surprise, the tentacles went limp, floating lazily next to me, as if yielding to my command.
My arms finally free, I half swam, half drifted toward the edges of my prison. I gripped the barrier tightly with both hands and tried to pull it apart. The texture reminded me of the soft skin inside my cheek.
I pulled with all my strength, every muscle straining. Finally, it gave way. The fluid rushed out of the pouch, and I tumbled onto the cold stone floor with a squishy, undignified thud.
The air hit me like a slap, cold, sharp, and biting. I gasped, choking on the sudden shift from thick liquid to open air. My body screamed in protest as I lay there, shivering, slick with fluid, trying to push myself up. The sound of my fall echoed off the walls.
The floor was hard, cold, too smooth. My hands slipped on it, no cracks, no dirt, just stone... polished?
Glancing down, I realized three things: First, I was completely naked. Second, my skin was red, streaked with black markings that seemed to pulse. Third… I was a boy.
I blinked hard. A sour stench filled my nose, fish? No, something rotting. Wet and wrong. I gagged, coughing up nothing but panic.
I forced my eyes open. Two large doors loomed in front of me, tall, matching, too perfect. Gold? Wood? I couldn’t tell. Everything felt too big.
And the walls came into focus just long enough to catch a glimpse, spirals, carved into the stone. Made to impress. Made to trap.
I started to turn and froze. What I’d thought was just a pouch turned out to be part of something monstrous. Tentacles writhed around the now, deflated sack, slick and glistening. The creature, a squid, pressed its sucker, covered limbs against the fleshy walls.
My stomach lurched, and I stumbled back. I tried to cast something, stretching out my hand, to blast it away. Get out. Vanish. Run.
But nothing came. No warmth. No pull of light. I’d already used up my spell, on a blanket.
“AAAAHHHH!!!” My vocal cords screamed in protest. I ran from the squid and crashed into the door.
A door creaked open. I immediately looked up at the large, regal, looking doors, but they remained closed.
I felt a weight in my bed and a hand grip my shoulder, shaking me slightly. My heart felt like it was trying to leap out of my chest.
“Please help!” I screamed, my throat raw with desperation. But I couldn’t escape.
I shoved against the door, throwing my body into it.
“HELP!!!” I yelled, my voice hoarse, my fear overwhelming.
Then, the hand let go.
“No, please, come back! Save me!”
I slipped as I pushed, falling backward as I held on.
The doors creaked open with a deafening groan, knocking me flat on my back.
I stared up at the open doorway, wide-eyed, my heart pounding.
Of course, it was a pull.
I ran. Panic surged as I tore around corners, desperate to escape that room.
I must have escaped, I thought, just as I turned a corner and collided with someone.
I bounced off them and hit the stone floor hard.
Two hooved legs stood before me. I looked up and froze.
A red, skinned, surprisingly feminine face stared down at me, framed by two large horns curling out from her forehead.
The exceptionally tall horned woman spoke; her voice laced with surprise. “My Lord,” she stammered, eyes wide. “But this is much too soon. You shouldn’t be up and about yet. Then again, you seem quite energetic.”
I slowly stood, only reaching her waist. My heart was still racing, my breath coming in short bursts, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
“And quite forward of you, too,” she added, trying, and failing, to hide a smile behind her hands.
I instinctively covered myself with my hands.
The tall woman knelt, lowering her head. Her tail swept side to side as she said, steady now:
“Please, allow me to introduce myself properly.”
She raised her head, eyes meeting mine.
“I am Magnavex, loyal advisor to you, my lord.”
“Wait… a Lord?!?” I stammered, disbelief freezing me in place.
Suddenly, a strange energy coursed through me, pulling me away.
I opened my eyes, but my vision fractured, images overlapping.
I was still in that other body.
“Olive, can you hear me? Do not let them corrupt you. Keep them at bay!”
I could see a man in ceremonial robes standing by my bed, Alaric!
I was saved. His hands were raised in prayer. Magnavex stood behind him, both watching me with concern.
“By the power of Lumisiel, I command you to release this child!” he pleaded.
Pain shot through me as I collapsed, hitting the stone floor.
“My Lord, are you okay?” Magnavex’s voice was filled with worry.
“We need to get you to… Dormathis. Yes. For medical attention, right away.”
She scooped me up, holding me close to her chest. Her grip was steady, comforting even, though my earlier fear still lingered.
As she carried me, I tried to focus on both worlds. The buzzing bees returned, images mixing like fog.
My room grew blurry, fading in and out, while the corridor sharpened.
I could feel both her strong arms and the softness of the bed beneath me, as though I were caught between two realities.
Alaric’s eyes locked on mine.
I was back in my room.
Alaric straddled me on the bed, his arms outstretched in rigid focus.
His eyes shone with golden light. His expression was calm, almost serene.
I managed a weak, frightened smile, and reflex more than anything.
The darkness swallowed me whole.