Butterfly Beach XVI: Rebirth
Date: 8/26/2024,
Categories:
Fantasy & Sci-Fi,
Author: sprite, Source: LushStories
... world once more, encased in a hard shell-like substance. Panicking, I fought, the instinct for survival setting in. Eventually, exhausted, I had torn enough of the translucent encasing to allow air in for me to breathe. Spent, I simply lay there, waiting for my energy to return enough to extract myself from my confines, trying not to think about how similar this was to a recent memory of me being trapped in what can only be described a giant test tube.
Surprisingly, I felt no pain, although hunger was another matter. The chrysalis, for that is what it reminded me of, was full of viscous fluid that smelled both sweet and sour. It clung to my naked flesh as I sat slowly up, my limbs weak, atrophied from my long… hibernation. Without thinking, I dipped my fingers into it, and licked them clean. It fed my hunger, and I feasted on it, feeling slightly rejuvenated after I’d had my fill of the warm sticky goop (there being no other word to accurately describe it).
“Quel étrange nouveau chapitre nous attend? ” I wondered out loud, my voice so soft that I could barely hear my own words.
What a strange new chapter, indeed…
My exertions having exhausted me, I lay back and closed my eyes. This time there were no dreams, at least none that I could remember. When I awoke, I felt renewed. Stronger. I fed once more upon the thick liquid that filled the chrysalis until I felt sated. And then I fought my way free of the now broken shell, eventually falling to my knees, naked and ...
... dripping with the nurturing goop, upon what seemed to be a bed of thick moss-like vegetation.
As I lay there, butterflies settled around me. The very same that we had named the beach after. I reached out, not with my hands, but with my senses. I could feel them. Their senses, emotions, even their thoughts, primitive as they might be. I sent my own, communing with the warm breeze caressing my naked flesh I stood once more, unsteady at first, but eventually finding my equilibrium.
And then, I explored. I was near the cliffs. Isshu’s grotto lay behind me and the beach upon which we arrived after being shipwrecked before. I chose the beach. I was not yet ready for a reunion with my alien lover. Perhaps I would never be. I moved slowly. My muscles were weak with disuse. Besides, there was no hurry. I sensed that more than just weeks had passed since I’d fallen into my silk-encased slumbers. More than just months. Years. How many? I could not guess. What had happened to my companions? To Prel? To Isshu? I had no way of knowing other than discovering their fates for myself.
The sojourn to the beach took much longer than it once might have. I was still weak. Halfway there it began to rain. A warm, pleasant rain. I found a basin filled with water and regarded myself. I had healed. The terrible wounds inflicted upon me were no longer visible. Not even scars remained. Perhaps the liquid I had been encased in had some sort of healing qualities? I had no way of knowing.
I miss ...