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Monster

  What has my life come to? None of what I’m doing is living. I’m just surviving, day after day, getting passed around like a hot potato. There are also a bunch of rules and regulations I know almost nothing about. Like, what does it mean to gain control of someone’s soul? What even is a soul? What am I? And what is it with this damn necklace? Symbol of ownership… Does that mean I’m a slave? If so, who owns me? I’d get rid of this damn necklace if it weren’t my only key to finding out what happened.

  Either way, I probably won’t go around showing it to everyone I meet… At least, as long as there are still things I can gain from them. I’m so fucking tired, man. I have only slept for maybe an hour or so and the last time I had good sleep was back at the farmhouse… I wonder how they’re doing. I hope that Morgan got away at least. Wait, oh no. What if their farm gets raided by these lunatics??? I don’t even want to imagine what would happen to them… Dick and Shaggy would most likely try to fight. Rose and Peggy would try to run away with the kids… Granny would just stay there, not wanting to be a burden, maybe fight back herself and get killed, sniff. And then the kids would start screaming as they’re riled up, and the little ones would all be killed while… While Scarlet, sniff she’d end up like that girl in the tent screaming, ‘Help me! HELP ME!’

  I’m sorry, ok! I couldn’t help you! I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t abandon you… It’s just that I couldn’t do anything on my own… I was powerless! I swear! It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault… Maybe it is my fault. I… I need to get back, but not right now… I need… I need training. If that Fey is such a monster, she must be powerful. She could teach me. I know Boss’ name. That could help, right? Wait. This must be my mentor. Every fantasy character gets one. Maybe this is my beginning. All of that shit before was just to prepare me. The real questing starts now!

  “To adventure, Huzzah!!!” I scream running in the direction I was told, but after fifteen minutes or so I stop to catch my breath. Ok, might have blown my load on the battle cry a little early there… Also, this forest is getting creepy. And my feet are all muddy now. Wait a second… This takes me back to my childhood in Louisiana, kinda like the bayou. Man, I hated that place as a kid. It was hot, mosquitoes everywhere, and one time I fell into an outhouse and they had to fish me out with my grandpa's lucky fishing rod… He never used it much afterward. I’m glad we moved to Wyoming. I wonder why though, like why would anyone decide ‘today I’m going to move to Wyoming’ of all places. I mean, it’s a nice place, it’s my home, and I love it there but like, Wyoming isn’t known for much besides cowboys, empty space, and the fact that we measure distance in hours rather than miles.

  I hope my family doesn’t miss me too badly. If they could see me right now, then my dad would probably get a heart attack.

  ‘I didn’t raise you to become a man for you to turn into a girl’, is probably what he’d say. And then he’d most likely tell my mom that he was right all along about the government putting chemicals in the water to make young boys more feminine. I think my mom would probably cry but then be happy again when she realizes that she can play dress-up with someone again since my sisters are too old for that now. Maggie would probably end up gloating over finally becoming a big sister while Beth… I’m not sure what she would do. She left for the big city five years ago. I haven’t heard from her since… I wonder how she’s doing. I hope that all of this is a Narnia sort of deal, where one day I just find the exit again and no time has passed for them… I’d hate for them to worry themselves, wondering what happened to me.

  And even if I were to come home like this, they’d never understand it was me because I can’t explain this to them, I think to myself looking down at my leaf-covered body.

  Hmm, there is something on the ground here, it looks like a small pile of raspberries. No, more like caviar? Here on the ground randomly? It's in the middle of the forest. I know it’s a little swampy, but not wet enough for fish eggs. Maybe it’s frog eggs? Going a little further I hear what sounds like a dying deer. I should try to be stealthy now. If there is a dying deer that means either a predator or a hunter is near as well, I should probably move around that area…

  Though a dying deer also means free blood and who knows when I’ll get my next meal otherwise… Though if it’s a hunter, I doubt I’d be able to beat them and if it’s a wolf or something, there is a chance it’ll damage my suit enough to let the sunlight in… It is already starting to become twilight though, so maybe it’s worth a shot.

  Fuck it. I’ll try it, but carefully. I already look like a bush, so if I see something I’ll just kneel and go full camo mode.

  Slowly, I try to silently move closer to the deer sounds. It seems to be lying on the ground, leaning on a tree. I don’t see anyone or anything else so maybe it’s just old or broke a foot or something. Getting closer to it, the cries of the deer grow louder, but still no predator in sight. I think I’m safe, so I should be able to dine in as planned after all. When I get closer however a gruesome sight befalls me. The whole damn deer is covered in tumors…

  “Wait, those aren’t tumors, they're… Ticks. Hundreds of them. Tap…tap,tap…tap,tap,tap. Is it raining? Looking up, I see that it is indeed raining… But not water. “TICKS! A Whole tree full of them!”

  Fuck! Did I walk into a trap???

  I think to myself as hundreds of ticks fall onto me. I try shaking them off as much as I’m able to but I can hear and feel them crawling into my suit. They’re biting me! I try shaking them off but there are too many of them. I’m being weighed down by them at this point. I need to… Get them off. I’m sure that most of my body is currently occupied by ticks sucking me dry. I need to take off my suit. If I’m lucky, I won’t die instantly from the burning and will just burn off the ticks! Quickly I try taking it off, seeing my skin covered in reddish bubbles, I run into a ray of sunlight coming through the trees but… It’s too weak. I’m not burning! The one time I want to burst into fire, and it doesn’t work! Quick Samuel, think! What to do now? I can’t rip them out one by one, and there is no fire. What can I do???

  Plop…plop, plop…plop, plop, plop They’re… They’re falling off. What? OOOOOOH!!! My blood! It must be my special blood! It must be toxic to some extent. I thought it was my bite but it seems that only exacerbated the changes. Full of blood, all the ticks fall to the ground, my countless tiny wounds closing in an instant. But I’m still surrounded. Though for whatever reason they’re not advancing. It’s… It’s like they’re scared. I don’t have anywhere to go through though, I'm surrounded. What should I do? Just charge through? Maybe. But what if they have an ace up their sleeves? These are not normal ticks. Maybe if I jump through them? Spend the least amount of time on the ground as possible? But what if there are more in the trees?

  I look up and find that most of the trees have black balls in them.

  Fuck. Ok, what to do now… Cold powers? Maybe I can freeze them!

  “Freeze!” …Nothing is happening

  “Activate!” Still nothing.

  Fuck, I have no idea how to control this. Ok Samuel, think… What activated it the first time? I guess...It was me being horny? I doubt I’ll be able to get into the mood right now… So what should I do? I know! I’ll call the sisters for help.

  “Birch! Willow! Holly! I need you! I’m surrounded!”

  No one answers.

  “Please! Anyone!”

  Silence again.

  “Freeze!” Trying again, nothing happens.

  Wait. The dead ticks… Are they moving again? I think while watching the dead ticks’ legs twitch again, rolling back onto their legs and charging the other ticks, attaching themselves to them.

  “Yes. Let’s go vampire ticks! Fuck em up!”

  There is what seems like confusion in the ticks' ranks as they crawl over each other, swarming around widely, seemingly not understanding what is going on. Oh, shit it’s like they’re ripping each other apart, leaving only the dried-up corpses of their old brethren with huge holes in their backs. If this goes on for long I should be able to make my way through them soon. Or at least so I thought, as I watch more and more ticks congregate around me a monstrous voice appears from the treetops.

  “Who dares, invade my home? Killing my brood and turning them against each other!?”

  Oh shit. Shit, Shit, Shit. I hope this is not the monster I’m supposed to ask for help…

  “Ehm, I’m Sam. I got attacked by your brood and I was just defending myself! I swear I meant no harm to you! I came here for your guidance!”

  There is a bit of silence before I hear something heavy jumping down behind a tree, “You have made your point interloper. Call back your troops and I shall hear you out.”

  “I… I would but I don’t know how. That’s kind of part of the reason why I’m here!”

  “They are under your control are they not? Compel them to stop!”

  “Ok, I’ll try! Stop! All of you!” Suddenly, there is silence as all my vamp ticks stop moving even an inch. It is as if they had turned to stone.

  “I did it, look I di–,“ I say with joy before being interrupted by a woman with a bug-like face running at me and pinning my throat against a tree. Her face spouts a trunk-like chitin mouth that splits into four, revealing a chainsaw-like tongue.

  “Why are you here interloper?”

  “I… I am seeking your help.”

  “Well, I don’t give a fuck. What other reasons do you have?”

  “Please, you are my only hope! The demi-dryads sent me to you. They said you could help me!” I say while pulling out my necklace.

  “A slave? I do not care for you. Why should I help you? Let me ask you one last time, what are you doing in my swamp?”

  I don’t know if it was the sleep deprivation or the lack of oxygen, but that question made me burst out in laughter.

  “Are you mocking me, interloper?”

  “No… Hahahaha, I’m not, it's just… You remind me of an ogre I know.”

  “This is your last chance to talk yourself out of this before I kill you,” her grip tightens around my neck.

  “I… I… I’m only fourteen!”

  “What did you say?” I feel her grip loosening.

  “I’m only around fourteen winters old.”

  There is a moment of hesitation in her as she seems to take a step back before she lets go, her body lunging towards me. I hold up my arms protectively, anticipating the worst. But instead of an attack, I get a hug. And with a suddenly very human-sounding warm voice, I hear “I’m so saddened for having scared you. That must have traumatized you. You poor baby.”

  They… They sure seem to like minors, don’t they?

  “I… I’m confused. Weren’t you trying to kill me?”

  She pulls back from her hug, suddenly revealing an entirely human-like round face, spotted with freckles. Gray eyes that sparkle blue in the last rays of sunlight meet mine as I notice her copper-brown curly hair that cascades around her face, slightly leaning on me.

  “I was, since you killed my brood. But now that I know you’re only fourteen, I can’t hold a grudge against you! It’s impressive that you made it this far in the first place, if anything I should congratulate you!”

  “I… Ok. You can call me Sam. What's your name?”

  “Well, you can call me Hildegard. That’s not my name but it’s what I go by. But say, are you only fourteen? You seem a lot more mature than that.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Well, like I said I might be fourteen but my mind is basically twenty-one, I did an IQ-Test and everything.”

  “So how did you end up in slavery? Did your parents sell you?”

  “I… I’m not sure if I am a slave. I just woke up in this body, on a mountaintop lying naked on a stone table. When I descended downwards, I found this village of druids that had been slaughtered during some sort of ceremony. I drank the wolf blood out of a cup and then found these clothes and the necklace in a chest. I had this hunger for blood and strength that I never had before. I then befriended some humans but got separated by bandits. They wanted to do horrible stuff to me! But I did find out the name of their leader, so I intend to go back and free the prisoners after you train me!”

  “Woah there kid, slow down. Did that cup you drank out of have letters on them?”

  “Yeah! I have no idea what they mean though.”

  Brushing my hair to the side, she answers, “Seems like you participated in a domination ceremony… But it didn’t get completed because the druids died before it was finished… That body of yours, you said it’s different from your original one, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmm, taking your age into account as well as your strange glimmer… I’m guessing your body has been transfigured. It’s an ancient forgotten technique though…”

  “Transfigured? What do you mean!? Tell me more!”

  “Well, essentially your body is still in there, it has just been encased in mortal flesh. A mortal sacrifice for your soul to inhabit. If completed, it becomes permanent, making the caster of the ritual the master no matter how weak they are in comparison to the Fey. It is usually used to enslave powerful Fey, not kids like you… I’m guessing they messed up in their ritual. Did you happen to be in the vicinity of someone powerful before you woke up in your new body?”

  “I don’t think so. I was around humans. I didn’t even know Fey were real before this. I’m pretty sure I was a human too before all this.”

  “Well, I can tell you for certain that you weren’t. The spell can not turn a mortal, Fey. My first instinct would be that you’re a Changeling that got mixed up somehow. Though I have to say all of this is quite peculiar. Especially since I have no idea what will happen to someone if the ritual hasn’t been completed. That necklace too… I believe it’s part of it. It is magical. It might not be safe to take it off either. Have you taken it off before? Has anything happened?”

  “Yeah, I took it off when I was staying at the farm. I don’t think anything happened though. I mean there was this blizzard, but I doubt they’d be...”

  “No, they very well could be related. Try not taking it off again until we know more, ok?”

  “Ok.”

  “I’m also gonna give you a choice here. We could try to find this out on our own, or we get the Courts involved. Now I don’t trust the Courts much but if we do send you there, there is a chance they will solve the problem and reunite you with your parents. But there is also a chance that they don’t figure it out and you’ll be stuck like this rotting in some orphanage. Or even that they try to find the druids that did this and they’ll just finish the ritual making you an actual slave. I know this is a hard choice to make, especially at your age, and you can go back on it anytime but please tell me. What do you want to do?”

  Wow, that is a conundrum. So essentially either trust the government is gonna fix it or do it yourself? I’ll be honest, I never trusted the government much but I also have no idea about what’s happening… So what should I do?

  “Ehm, I believe for now I’d rather try to figure things out on my own. If things get really bad, we can still go with the other option… Do you know anything else?”

  “Nope, regrettably I do not.”

  “That’s ok, that's already a lot more than I knew before! So, I’m not a slave then?”

  “No, I don't think so. And since the ritual has been canceled, I believe you can return to your old body one day… Even though I’m not sure how.”

  “That’s great news!” I say while hugging her out of joy.

  “Woah calm down there, Sammy.”

  “Sammy?”

  “It’s your new nickname. Sam sounds a bit too boyish for me and since I’m taking you in, I’d want to call you something a little more fitting.”

  “Wait, so you’re taking me in?”

  “Yup, at least until I send you to the authorities. Now come, follow me to my house,” she says while letting out a loud fart.

  “Eeew, what was that all about?”

  She gives me a grin, “Well, since we’ll be living together now I wanted to get the formalities out of the way, haha.”

  “That’s disgusting…”

  “No, it’s not. But you know what is?” She asks me and then burps right in my face, her breath smelling like a rotting animal, causing me to gag in disgust.

  “Hahaha, gotcha. All right now for real, follow me,”

  I think I understand now what you meant when you were talking about what Unseelie are like Holly…

  “So, Hildegard. Mind if I shorten your name a bit?”

  “Go ahead, I don't care.”

  “I’ll call you Hildi then if that’s fine.”

  “Sure, Sammy.”

  As we move, I see the ticks parting like the red sea as we pass through. My vampire ticks, still motionless.

  “Hey, Hildi?”

  “Yeah? What’s up?”

  “Can I ask you something that might sound rude?”

  “Sure, shoot.”

  “What are you? You look very different than before.”

  “Oh, you mean like this?” she says, transforming her face into the bug-like one she had before, sending chills down my spine.

  “Yeah…”

  “That’s my hybrid form,” she tells me after transforming back.

  “What’s a hybrid form?”

  “Oh, all Faunites and Florans have one. It’s a mixed form between our Fey body and our nature aspect. Depending on how undiluted your blood is, you can change into a full hybrid or even a version of the animal or plant that your aspect is. So, let’s say you have a little of a Hawk aspect in you, you might be able to manifest a hawk eye or a few feathers but only if you have a lot of that in you can you turn into a full hybrid and fly. As for actually turning into a hawk, your blood would need to be quite pure. If you’re a pureblood you’d be able to transform into a hawk that is bigger and stronger than any hawk in existence. We call that a guardian form.”

  “So, what are you then?”

  “I’m a pureblood.”

  “Wait, what!? So… You’re royalty?”

  “Not exactly… It’s just that parasitic Fey Folk like me don’t have a great chance on the dating market. And Tickians like us, we’re extra fucked because the Arachnoid family is not well received. We’re way on the bottom of the fuckability scale.”

  “Oh… But being a pureblood must be cool, right? Can I see your guardian form?”

  “Ehhhh, sure,” she says while taking her dress off.

  Covering my eyes, I say, “What are you doing? Why are you getting naked?”

  “Well, I don’t want my clothes to get too muddy. Also, why shouldn’t I show off my body? I’m sexy and I know it.”

  “Yeah but… Isn’t it a little indecent to undress before a stranger?”

  “Bruh, number one, you’re a baby. If I have to change your diapers, I get to undress whenever I want. Number two, these are MY woods, and I can undress here whenever the fuck I want. And number three, we’re both girls. There is nothing here you haven't seen before.

  “I… I guess” I answer, somewhat conceited.

  “See, told ya. Now hold my garments,” She says, throwing me her clothes. She then stretches, strikes a pose and does a backflip, transforming midair and landing on the ground as a small dog-sized black tick with a red bum.

  “Wow, you’re a lot smaller than I thought,” I say looking down at her. In response, she lifts one of her legs and waves it.

  “Hmm, can you not speak in that form?” I ask.

  She moves her body from left to right.

  “Hmm, guess not. Do you… Do you mind if I touch you?”

  As an answer to my request, she crawls a little closer to me and lies down flat on her belly. I then try petting her black parts first. They feel like the smooth side of toenail clippings. Her red back part is very leathery and stretchy like a dried date mixed with a balloon.

  Man, this is weird. I never thought I’d pet a tick. Especially not one of this size…

  After I’m done feeling her up, I tell her that she can transform back now and watch as she breaks open her carapace revealing a humanoid back. She then crawls out of the tick skin with her human form striking a pose.

  “Tadaa! So, how’d you like it?”

  “It was really interesting. But I thought you’d be… I dunno, bigger?”

  “What do you mean? That’s humungous for a tick!”

  “Well yeah… I just imagined you’d be more horse-sized than little dog-sized.”

  “Well, I’ll have you know that first of all, the size increase is proportional to the animal, so for a tick, I’m already way bigger than most guardian forms would be in relation. ALSO, I’m not even an adult yet. I’m still in my nymph stage.”

  “So you’ll get bigger?”

  A bit indignant, she answers. “Of course I’ll get bigger! Ok, calm down Hildegard, breathe in. She’s a baby no need to get flustered over size.”

  “So, can you tell me how you activate your abilities? Is it the backflip?”

  “What? No, that’s just because I’m fabulous. As for how I activate my abilities, it’s kind of hard to say. It’s just part of my body. As a kid, I started off by somewhat randomly switching different body parts and then over time got the hang of it. There was even that one time my parents told me about, where I went into my guardian form and walked up the wall but then I had no idea how to get down again, so I was stuck on the ceiling for a day before my parents found me.”

  “Hmm, do you think you could help me figure myself out? I don’t know what I am or what I can do. I have some sort of abilities that just happen sometimes, but I’m not sure what they are and how they work. Like sometimes I just get super cold to a point that stuff near me freezes over and I also once had this black sludge cover my left arm when I woke up."

  "I'm not sure. Your body is stuck in that flesh prison after all. With your body the way it is, I’m not even sure if you can reincarnate if you die right now.”

  “When you say reincarnate, do you mean like you lose your memories but your energy lives on, sorta deal?”

  “No, I mean you retain your mind and after around two hundred years your soul reforms back home under the tree of life into a body more to your liking. So, if you were someone that always worked out a lot, then your next body would be stronger and easier to improve. That sort of thing. But your ancestry or abilities don’t change, so you’re stuck with what you’re born with.”

  “Wait so, I can never truly die?”

  “Well, I don’t know about you specifically, since your soul is tethered to this mortal shell. But if we free you, then no, not unless you want to vanish forever or...Nevermind.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. So how many times have you reincarnated?”

  “Me? None. This is my first life.”

  “Oh, ok. So how old are you then?”

  “I’m two thousand, three hundred twenty-seven and a half years old.”

  “Holy shit. You’re so old!”

  Letting out a smirk, she answers, “Heh, to you maybe. But I’m not even an adult.”

  “You’re not??? How old do you need to be to become an adult?”

  “Eeeh, it depends on your race and tribe. So, for us Tickians we become adults after our nymph phase. There are also races like the Papilionides, that have a caterpillar phase and then, later on, transform into a Butterfly person. But there are also other races where it’s not biological but something you have to earn. The Dwarfs, for example, award adulthood to those that forge their first piece of armor or weapons good enough to be acknowledged by a forge master. So, it’s hard to pinpoint an age to adulthood, but I’d say, generally speaking, around twenty-five hundred and three thousand is when you become a young adult.”

  “Wow, that’s a long time. So, if Fey live that long, why isn’t the world completely overpopulated with them?”

  “Well, for starters this isn’t our world. It is just a speck of sand in the desert that is the multiverse. We Fey are pure life energy. We exist wherever there is life and as such, the Fey realm is ever-expanding. It is an overlaid dimension. A place that exists on top of this realm. Infinitely vast but always accessible as long as you know where to go.”

  “Wow, I… I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”

  “How about I show you when we figure out how to get you out of that mortal shell of yours?”

  “I would love that!”

  “It’s a promise then,” she says with a smile, as different colors fly around me like a small firework.

  “Woah… What is all that?” I ask.

  “That’s a pact, Sammy. It means I just made a promise I can’t go back on.”

  “But why would you do that? We just met!”

  “That’s true but you also have nowhere to go. So, since I’m taking you under my wing, I thought a little bit of insurance on your side would make you feel more at ease.”

  “It does… Tha– I mean, I’m glad I met you!”

  “You’d better be. It’s hard to find a nice catch like me out in the wild. Also, we’re here now,” she says pointing at a hollowed-out tree.

  “We’re where?”

  “My home”

  “That tree?”

  “Yup.”

  “I don’t think we’ll both fit in there Hildi...”

  “Sure we will, it gets bigger when you go in.”

  “I’m not sure if you’re joking or not…”

  “I’m not,” she says while crouching into the hollowed-out tree.

  “Just take my hand and follow me,” she says while holding out her hand.

  All right, Sam, I know your alarm bells are ringing but she seems trustworthy. Worst case, she pranks me in there. I doubt she is gonna harm me or anything. Taking a deep breath to gather my confidence, I take her hand and walk inside the tree.

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