Celia popped onto the surface like a fish flung out of water. Sunlight and fresh air bombarding her senses, too many smells hitting her all at once. The grass was too soft, strange. There were too many things moving, vibrations battering her mind with constant explosions in the far distance. She couldn’t see either, like the whole world was several times brighter than it should’ve been.
Her body made to hurl. The contents of her stomach vying for release.
She ran for the cover of shade instead. There was something a few feet to her left that she thought was a tree. A weird looking tree that offered shade, a respite from the torture of the sun, and she ran for it without thought. Huddling beneath its embrace and trying to regain her bearings.
Very, very slowly she did exactly just that. A whole hour passing as she sat there. The light pouring forth from the massive wound in the sky dimming from a glaring blast of incandescent to the gentle heat of sunset. The relief she felt from the change in light level was startlingly drastic. Where as before it felt like everything was so bright that it was boiling her eyes, it had now fallen to a far more reasonable level.
Which was still a bit "bright" for her tastes. But improvement was improvement, and she wasn’t going to complain. What she could complain about, however, was all the noise. And the smells.
She didn’t remember the surface being this… unpleasant from her brief stint up here after arriving. Then again, she didn’t have tremor sense when she first arrived either. Or a nose that could put a bloodhound to shame. Both of which were conspiring against her to make the world miserable, even more so than it usually was.
But that was fine. Celia could deal with miserable. She could adjust, she just needed time.
And as soon she thought that, a massive shadow swooped overhead. A literal shadow. Living blackness given form, massive wings creating giant gusts of wind. Grass cratering beneath the force, the tree behind her groaning as it was made to bend back a little. It was all the warning Celia got before the wind hit her, knocking her flat to the ground. Lower body moving after her. A jiggle that she ignored, pushing herself up and staring in a mix of awe and terror at the source of the disturbance.
She couldn’t help but think it beautiful. Ten foot wings spread wide. A sharp, almost sword like, beak. Head shaped like a black flame, leading down to a body the size of a barn with no legs. It’s tail was a thing of purest shadow, each plume multi edged and glistening.
But it was the eyes that held her. A perfect black, so dark it cast a shadow in shadow.
Celia had never seen anything like it, and in a daze had almost found herself walking toward it. As if the eyes had a sort of… magnetism to them. A pulling force that reached deep. And Celia found herself utterly enthralled by it. Aware that the desire it put on her was anything but natural, yet she couldn’t find it in her to care.
There was only one thing on her mind and that wa-
As soon as Celia stepped out from under the shade, it was like a bomb had gone off. Light bloomed painfully bright. Lances of nauseating pain speared their way through her skull as she fell backwards. Hands to her face, covering her eyes as her senses reminded her why she had hid here in the first place.
When she could see again, the shadow was gone and the world was brighter again without its presence.
Insight gained: The color of shadow
And suddenly Celia saw the world differently.
She saw the absence of color. Impossible black spots that seemingly existed everywhere. Under every blade of grass. Opposite of every tree and stone. There were even spots in gaps between every speck of pale dirt on the ground. Shadows everywhere and anywhere. Even the shade she was under had a shadow, a deeper one locked within its own self.
But when Celia looked up at the gaping wound in the sky pouring out its light, she saw something… unexpected.
It was a shadow.
As in, it was a literal shadow. Cast by what, she had no idea. Wasn’t sure she wanted to know either. What she did care about was what that seemed to give her, and what it gave her was opportunity. As, the more she looked, the more shadow she saw. Spots and cracks in the rays of light descending from above. That, if she did things just right, she might be able to use to her advantage.
So, for the third time today, Celia stepped into the light. Or rather it’s shadow. Sliding from one ray of shadow light to the next, slowly making it further and further away from her shade. Eyes set on a new destination: a massive white tree in the distance. Tall enough to serve as a landmark and covered in enough leaves to create a sort of pseudo shelter from the harsh glare of the harsh wound in the sky. Though, she wasn’t sure how much she needed it now, seeing as how she could see and walk in shadows cast by the very light she was hiding from.
And no sooner than she had the thought did Celia mess it up. Taking a step too far to the left and exposing herself to the glow descending from above. It’s light banishing all the shadows she could see from existence and plunging her into a bright purgatory all over again.
Her first instinct was to run for the shade she had just left. But after a moment spent running around like a headless chicken, she realized she had lost it. Which left only the giant tree in the distance as her only reasonable option.
So she ran for it.
Every footstep creating an infinitesimally small "shock" wave. Enough to give her the faintest idea about what some of her surroundings looked like. Though the only word she could think of to describe them was alien. From flowers with sharp knife like petals, to holes in the ground that were seemingly filled with teeth. It was as strange as it was dangerous. Painting a clearer picture for Celia that everything here was a predator in one fashion or another.
Even the sun. And right now, she was it’s prey. All but flailing about as she ran from the intensity of its gaze. Before after what felt like far too long she arrived at her destination. Stumbling head first into the shade, vision clearing up shortly after.
Only for her to find that she was not alone in her reluctantly chosen place of refuge. As, when she could finally see again, she found two very strange looking creatures staring right back at her. Four legged and with a mess of tentacles for a face.
But they weren’t attacking her. Which Celia realized, outside of Jonas, was a bizarre first. And even in Jonas' case, he almost did attack her. With a spear at that. A spear.
She resolved to be better, and offered the strange creatures as polite a wave as she could manage. And then her stomach growled. Loudly. The strange creatures in front of her no longer just appearing as friendly alien looking things, but as food. Her Feastling nature slowly spreading itself back over her, reminding her of how hungry she was now that the pain was all gone.
Naturally, the two creatures backed away from her. Friendly demeanor giving way to one that radiated fear. Then, before Celia could even think of doing anything, they were gone. Vanishing in twin puffs of silver smoke. And Celia was alone once again.
"Great, look what you did?" She angrily said to her gut, grabbing it. Idly taking note that there was a lot more of it to grab than she was used to.
In fact, there was just a lot more of her than she was used to. In both the natural and the unnatural. Growths of hair that behaved like tendrils of vine and had strange flowers at their ends. Scales that both covered and were fused with her skin. The shoulder tentacle. And a skirt of leather like flesh that hid even stranger things within.
Like her now certified butt. And she meant the big - shake when you didn’t want it to, jiggle all over the place, and make you double check behind you - kind. With it came a heaping of thick thighs and double wide hips.
Hips that were certain to get bigger the moment she got herself something to actually eat. Which she was both looking forward to and dreading. The latter, for the death of her figure, and the former because she might genuinely have a problem.
"Ugh, and I just fed you too."