I awoke, eventually, the sound of her mechanical creations my only companions. Metal upon metal. The sound of whirring machines. The pulse of liquid being pumped through tubes. Opening my eyes, I was surprised to find that I was no longer in the cell that she’d been keeping me. Instead, I had been transferred to some sort of crystalline tube. It reminded me of the test tubes that I was once familiar with a lifetime ago. Apparently, I was still an object of interest for my captor to study and experiment on. I shifted, moving with great difficulty in my confinement. It helped little that several thin tubes had been attached to both arms. Tubes filled with various coloured liquids that were being pumped into my bloodstream. For what reason I could only guess.  

Tapping, and then pounding, upon the tube, I quickly discovered that it was quite resilient. Any thought of breaking the glass, or whatever material it had been fashioned from, was quickly dismissed. I wondered if she observing me from somewhere upon her craft, laughing at my futile attempts to escape. I decided that, for now, the best thing to do was accept my fate. Closing my eyes I allowed myself to drift back into unconsciousness and take refuge in my dreams…

This time it wasn’t Isshu who came to me. It was Prel…

I found Prel in our usual meeting place, pacing impatiently, seemingly agitated.  Suddenly wary, I paused, watching him cautiously, noting the way he flexed his fingers over and over and the way his ears twitched when he caught sight of me. Then paused, his grin feral, his teeth stained purple with the juices of the berries, and it all became quite clear.  I felt my heart lurch in my chest with a healthy mixture of fear and lust as he moved towards me with a quickness that no human could match, his clawed fingers encircling my wrists.

 “Vaha,” he growled, his eyes almost glowing with lust as he pulled me close, trapping me against his chest.  “I am wanting.”

 Once upon a time, in a lifetime almost forgotten, I would have called our lovemaking savage. I was no longer that person, that demure woman who was prone to blushing at something as simple as passing flirtation.  I had become a creature of wanton desires matching those of Prel, influenced by the berries as he was.

I cried out in passion as I felt the tips of his talons drawing lines in my flesh, scratching me, nearly drawing blood. Savagely I sunk my teeth into his scales, feeling them give, his grunt of arousal satisfying.  Reaching down, I grasped the shaft of his sheathed prick, clumsily guiding it to my dripping-wet sex.  This was not a graceful dance we performed, but rather a desperate coupling.  I felt his head swelling as it pressed against my belly, the tip slick with pearls of precum.  It rivaled Bull’s. I wanted, no, needed it deep inside of my hungry pussy. 

“Ravish me,” I moaned, and though he might not have understood the words, my inflection needed no translation.  I felt him entering me, not slowly, but with a sharp thrust. I thought I might split in half.  I let out a sharp gasp as I felt his talons grabbing my bottom, pricking my skin painfully.  I thrust myself against him, forcing him deep inside of me, fucking him as energetically as he began to fuck me until I was covered in sweat.  He didn’t last long, spewing his load inside of my sopping cunt quickly, but neither did I.  A powerful orgasm ripped through me, and I threw back my head and nearly screamed as release claimed me…

I awoke suddenly, in a state of confusion. A moment ago I had been with Prel… and now? Now I was back upon the Thermisto, a prisoner once more. I felt strange. A result, possibly of the fluids that were coursing through my body. What their purpose might be, I had no inkling.

“Why are you doing this?” I shouted, my voice raspy, and pounded once more upon my clear prison. “What are you doing to me?”

She chose that precise moment to enter through a portal. Once again I marveled at her half-alien, half-mechanical physique. Her fragile-looking hands, each with an extra finger and thumb. Her milk-white flesh joined with polished metal, cylinders, and tubing. Her octet of eyes, only one of which was organic, the others being a series of coloured lenses. Only half alive. The other half was machinery.

“I am helping you to evolve,” she said simply, her voice devoid of emotion and sounding distant as it was piped in through a small speaker within the tube. “I am creating new life.”

“You are destroying me.”

“I am making you better. You should thank me.”

I kept my tongue, deciding that silence was my only means of rebellion. She merely smiled, a gesture that was more cruel than reassuring.

“You will thank me when I am finished, little insect."

That was all I was to her. An insect. An oddity. Something to experiment on. I felt resolve building within me. I would escape. I would find a way to return to Isshu and to Prel. I would not allow her to turn me into something other…

I found myself floating in a dream state once more. Not quite asleep and not quite awake. Once again, Prel visited me. Once again he ravished me, leaving lines of blood upon my flesh with his claws. Once again I climaxed and awoke…

I was in pain. It felt like molten fire flowing through my veins. My screams of ecstasy became screams of pain.

She regarded me dispassionately, watching as I writhed, begging for her to stop whatever it was she was doing to me.

“Soon enough, little insect,” was her only comment. Eventually, it became too much and I lost consciousness.

When I awoke, I had been moved once more, this time to a part of the ship that was new to me. I was lying upon something neither soft nor hard but somewhere in between, my limbs spread to each corner. Pain radiated from my ankles and wrist. Twisting my neck, I could see that I was being held down by steel needles that had been pushed through my flesh. I was reminded of an insect upon display, a single pin thrust through its body. Pain and horror filled me and I began to scream until my throat was raw and I could scream no more. Thankfully, I passed out once more and found myself lost in my dreams…

I found myself on a beach. The very one that we had been shipwrecked upon a lifetime ago. The sound of waves crashing gently was soothing. I felt a sense of peace washing over me, the warmth of the sun upon my bare flesh filling me with glorious heat and making me drowsy as my colourful sisters and brothers, the giant butterflies after which had christened the beach settled and perched upon nearby vines. Overhead a bird circled lazily, content to let the warm air currents lift him further skyward.

Paradise, indeed. Not wanting to unseat them, I lay motionless, gaze drifting past the waves, searching the bright blue waters for something of interest to focus on, my heart seeming to catch in my chest as I made out the shape of faraway sails.  Sitting up suddenly, wings fluttering as the oversized insects fluttered free, I focused my sight, my heart pounding as I contemplated flight.

A flurry of conflicting impulses crashed through me, unsure as to what was within my heart at the sight of possible rescue.  Elation, yes, but uncertainty and fear as well. After all, I was no longer human, either in appearance or demeanor. If this was indeed a rescue and my companions were on board, I had little doubt that they, at least, would welcome me with open arms, and yet, my freakish nature would be offsetting to say the very least.  And, if they weren’t upon the vessel that slowly drew closer as my inner debate raged, what kind of welcome could I expect? A vision of being caged and studied worried at the corners of my mind…

Again, I awoke. She was standing over me, piercing my flesh with yet another syringe, this one filled with a green milky liquid. I struggled, but again, it was in vain. The steel pins held me firmly and I had grown too weak to put up much of a fight. Perhaps that was a good sign. Perhaps it signaled that my bod body was dying. That my salvation wouldn’t come in the form of escape or rescue, but rather form the sweet relief of death…

I ascended once more to lie upon the wild grasses beneath the flowering berry vines, and let the butterflies be my eyes, waiting with growing impatience as the ship neared the island and dropped anchor, a scurry of activity upon its deck following swiftly, although it soon became apparent that it would be sometime before a boat would be lowered so that a landing party could depart. Of my companions there was, as yet, no sight but that was no proof of their absence.  I felt a sudden presence at my back and breathed in, unsurprised to detect the faint scent of my Kintinku lover. 

“Floating house,” Prel rumbled, his shrewd eyes turning westward toward the beach, his great paw brushing the edge of one wing, sending shivers of hunger through my flesh.  “Wingless.  Tribe?”

“My People,” I returned, my voice slow and thoughtful, turning the words into a question.  “Maybe Tribe.  Maybe outsiders.”  

Prel simply nodded, the explanation apparently satisfying his curiosity for now. 

“We watch in shadow, Vaha. Like cat watch bird.”

“Oui.  Like tankaku watch Inta,” I murmured in agreement, melting back into the sheltering grass. We were joined by Isshu, carrying his darkness with him, his tentacle-like appendages wrapping about me comfortingly, tenderly, his voice a mixture of concern and deep-seated anger.

“Hold on. We are coming for you!”

I awoke once more, this time to the sounds of screams which were not my own.

Hers. My captors. I watched through my clear prison as Prel and Isshu battled her, tooth and claw and tentacle vying against her mechanical weaponry. The savagery of it was breathtaking. Blood painted the room, not all of it hers. I delved deep within myself and found a prayer from my childhood and began reciting it, holding on to hope for the first time since I had come aboard the Eye Of Thermisto.

“Notre Pere, qui est aux cieux, que ton nom soit, sanctifie, que ton regne, vienne, que ta volante soit faite sure la terre comme au ciel…

“Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be they name…”

It was over before I could complete it. The creature who had tormented me so lay lifeless upon the metal floor, her life’s blood a dark green ichor. Panting, Prel knelt over her, his clawed hand grasping her throat as if to make certain that she breathed no more.

Isshu, meanwhile, was searching for a way to free me from the tube. Before he could succeed I once again succumbed to a dream. The last thing I remember were his eyes, full of rage, as he laid blow upon blow against the wall of my prison…

I was on a boat. Not a ship. A boat. A rowboat. I was alone, my fingers trailing in the water as it floated down a slowly moving stream. Water lilies swirled past, brushing against my hands almost playfully. Leaning over I could see my reflection. It was hideous. I was no longer the woman I remembered. Where there had once been a pair of eyes, there were now six, all multifaceted. I was hairless and my face was marred with terrible scars. I recoiled at the sight. I’d become a monster…

I woke, thankfully. And then fell back into sleep. I felt fevered. Burning up from within. Worse, I felt some sort of malignant growth beneath my flesh, reshaping me into something inhuman. I fought it, willing myself to retain my essence – that which made me Olivia…

We’re here, Isshu told me, waking me from my uneasy slumbers.

Where is here? I wondered, feeling dizzy, my vision clouding over.

Home.

So many images filled my thoughts. The cottage in which I had grown up in, in France. The academy in which I had studied. The Golden Dove. The shelters we had built on the beach. Isshu’s underground cavern…

“Home,” I repeated out loud, the word sounding unfamiliar in my mouth. “La maison.”

 I lay in the water, floating, my fever wracking my flesh. For how long, I cannot say. I recall very little. His tentacles wrapped tenderly about me. Prel’s fierce eyes, full of worry.

Memories seemed to come and go, both those of my time spent upon the island and those of my life before. It was hard to discern which were true and which were fabrications of my damaged mind, for damaged it was. Damaged, or perhaps, evolving. I lay in the darkness for days. Perhaps weeks, feeling myself slowly fading away to nothing. On occasion, I would become lucid. And, on occasion, I would hear them argue…

One day I awoke, not in Isshu’s lair, but upon the grass, staring up at a cloudless sky. It was full of my little brothers and sisters. The Butterflies. So many colours. I found myself trying to smile. It was difficult, but I think I finally managed it. Of Isshu there was no sign. Prel, however, hovered near me, perched upon his powerful legs, concern marring his handsome features and he regarded me.

“I am dying,” I managed, my voice rusty with disuse. It wasn’t a question. It was simply truth. He shrugged. He had learned enough of my language to understand the question

“Perhaps it is best,” I told him. “I had such terrible dreams. I was becoming a monster…”

He looked away, pretending to watch one of the butterflies flutter past, unwilling to confirm my suspicions.

“It is true, then, oui?”

Plucking a wildflower from the hilltop upon which I lay, he placed it in my hands, gently closing my fingers around the stem as we watched the butterflies, together, in silence. And then, a strange thing happened. They began to alight upon me, covering me, and I could hear their thoughts. Perhaps ‘hear’ is the wrong word. I could feel their thoughts. I could suddenly see through their eyes, as I had learned to do. Looking down I was aghast to see myself. I had transformed into something hideous. Tumors covered my naked body. My once beautiful wings lay useless and shriveled. My face was a parody of humanity. Scabs covered my arms and pus leaked from open sores. I coughed, pain wracking my body. And then, something miraculous occurred. The butterflies began to spin a web about me. One of crystalline silk. One that I recognized. A chrysalis. Prel went to chase them off, but with the last of my strength, I halted him.

“Non. Non!”

Reluctantly, he paused, gazing deep into my eyes, his gold orbs full of heartbreak.

“Non,” I whispered once more, shaking my head and managing one last smile. And then the world went dark.