She wasn’t, and a moment later she was. Her new eyes cracked open, and despite the dim light she still flinched, and she paused. She had felt arms and legs, which she hadn’t for a long time, but she also felt…wings? Muscles on her back flitted large, dark brown and silver wings. Moth wings, if her fuzzy memory could be trusted. Her eyes opened wider as she tried pulling the tendons she could feel extending into those wings, and they slowly opened.

She looked down. Good, she had legs. Those were helpful. As she tipped her head down, two long, fuzzy appendages dangled into view. She started, pulling back from the strange fluffy things, but they followed her. If she had wings, these were probably antennae, some ephemeral memory informed her. She was a moth? Well, a moth person, at the least. Now that she mentioned it…

She blinked, and blinked again. It hadn’t been obvious at first, but now that she was focused on it, her sight was a composite. With a little effort she could see all the little angles and separate perspectives that her brain merged to feed her a single cohesive image. She really just might be a moth person?

“Are you with me, little one?”

The voice skipped her ears and went straight down her spine. It was a voice of power, even if not displaying it. She hesitantly looked up, and up, and up along the soft, endless silken sheets that surrounded her. The fabric rose far above her head, where she saw the enormous head of a woman, but her features were off. Her eyes were enormous black orbs, made of hundreds of little black panes. Her regal antennae flared out and up, framing her inhumanly beautiful face and her long, silver hair, almost indistinguishable from the silk draped over her. 

“Is standing and gaping all you can do? Speak, what is your name?”

The question and the accompanying shock to her spinal cord knocked her out of her starting. Did she have a name? None really leapt out to her, however…she was alive, and that was a nice surprise. So-

“Vittea, I think?”

“You think? Hmph. Whatever, that is of little importance.” With a titanic movement, the giant woman shifted her legs, crossing her left over her right and causing the mountain of silk to shake. Vittea fell over, which wasn’t too far, since she was sitting directly on the ground. As she struggled to sit upright again, the woman carried on. 

“What is important is that I am the goddess Leppida. You may now be appropriately awed.” Vittea simply stared. “Hpmh, it’s so hard to find proper prostrating worshippers anymore. Moving on. I plucked you, little soul, from the vast ether because I have a role I need filled, and I need someone not influenced by the world at large to do it. I, the glorious Leppida, tragically have no sponsored delvers.”

Vittea tilted her head in confusion. “What’s a-

“That of course must be rectified! At least to a degree that my damn relatives will stop hounding me day and night. ‘Oooh, Leppida, it is so sad to see you without any appointed while all my goody-two-shoes sycophants bring me shiny useless gold every day.’ ‘Ooooh sweet Leppida, if you have no delver bearing your mark, you may fade away from the public view, unlike me and my perfect skin and blah-blah-blah-” Leppida mimes two rather irritatingly-voiced commenters with her hands, channeling some deep-set grudges if Vittea was any guess. 

“Um…how do I fit-

“You, wayward little soul, are my convenient, least effort solution, and I do love those. And you get so much out of it! All you must do is wear my mark. Besides that I do not care. Steal, rescue, delve, deceive, stupefy, it matters not. I just need someone with my sponsorship prancing about. So, don’t die. That’s not allowed.”

Vittea scrunched her brow as the goddess went on. “But, I don’t even know how to-”

“Hush now, I’m explaining. You will enter the Realms as one of my kin, and my minion- loyal followers will give you the instruction you need to not die. After that, it is up to you. Any questions?”

“Yes I do! Am I a moth person? What’s a delver? What realms? And who am I-”

Leppida sighed, her beautiful lashes fluttering, as if she was being forced to deal with an annoying if necessary chore. She leaned down, her enormous face filling Vittea’s sight as she petered off into silence. 

“Hmph. So noisy. Luckily, answering your questions isn’t my responsibility,” Leppida exclaimed with far too much joy for Vittea’s comfort. “And, mercifully, my job is done, and I am going back to sleep. If you accomplish anything of note, don’t inform me. Now, be gone.”

Vittea felt anger flare inside her. She had been pulled out of a very pleasant, stress free existence as a miniscule part of the flow of ether, and this…this asshole, lazy, self-absorbed goddess was about to toss her into the pot with barely any warning? Vittea shot to her feet, her fists clenched, ready to give the mothy goddess a dressing down, when the ground dropped out from under her, and she was absorbed by the darkness. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Vittea woke up annoyed. Annoyed at the weird goopy feeling enveloping her entire body. Annoyed at the aloof goddess who didn’t even give her time to enjoy being alive or explore her neat new body before tossing her into the pot. She tried to move her arms, but she found herself inside of a small enclosure. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn't see...she had to get out. 

Her large, multifaceted eyes blinked hard, but she still saw nothing in the gloopy darkness. Something in the back of her mind, linked inexorably to her new body, pushed her forwards. Her arms lifted upwards and grabbed at threads in front of her, spun tightly into a thick material. It made sense, honestly. She was in a cocoon.

Her fingers dug into the silk and started tearing, ripping apart the gossamer threads while she watched her body move. The primal instinct at the base of her skull told her to escape, to emerge, to tear open her container. Her new muscles strained with the effort of wrenching apart her silken cage, but with one firm push she felt herself emerge. The goop poured out along with her as Vittea plopped onto the ground with a wet squelch. 

Luckily, the light outside of her cocoon was dim and cozy and didn’t blind her upon cracking her eyes open. She no longer felt the instinctual drive, her limbs once again obeying her, so she took advantage of that to wipe as much of the gunk off of her face and arms as possible as she looked around. 

Bookcases stood tall like ancient trees, housing hundreds of thousands of books, stretching up into a fog covered sky. The bookcases were made of odd, seamless pale material, as if molded out of one solid block, without any marks or chips from the process. She was in a little cave, made when a shelf had fallen over and was now leaning against another. Silk coated most of the makeshift cavern, all swirling around the cocoon she had recently broken out of. However, there was no one around. She could hear the sound of things moving in the distance, but for now she was alone. 

Vittea sat up, shaking the stubborn muck off of her fingers before she got started on her hair. It was off-white and puffy, and came down just past her shoulders. She brushed her fingers through her bangs, freezing when she felt them bump into her very sensitive antennae, squeaking out in surprise at the sudden stimulation. However, with her sudden awareness of her new appendage, she could feel it sending information to her brain, sensations and vibrations and fluctuations in the air that she had never perceived before, packaged neatly for her brain to process. 

She could feel things in the distance, heavy, slow things, displacing the air around them and starting chain reactions that led to her long and fluffy antennae that framed her face, almost drooping past her chin. She played with them for a moment, enjoying the gossamer fuzz dangling from them, now that she wasn’t overstimulated by surprise. There was something else she could sense, but she didn’t know how to describe it. It was like a gentle static that clung to everything she could detect, it all had a thin layer of fuzzy…stuff, flowing through and on it. When she focused her antennae on herself, she was infused with the stuff, much denser and compacted than what was coating her surroundings. 

A heavier fluff covered her thighs and forearms, as well as running down her sides to join the fuzz near her hips. Anything not covered in fuzz was an odd texture. It was soft, but not like skin. It was surprisingly dense, for how light her arms felt, and she could feel her finger on the surface. When she scratched her carapace, she realized that while she knew the pressure had been harder than before, the pain was less of a screaming beacon in her brain and more a simple notification that something painful had occurred. How odd.

She continued to pat herself down, both to get rid of any remaining filth and to continue familiarizing herself with the new body she found herself in. She was fluffy and chitinous, and honestly despite her current disheveled state she didn’t feel stiff or weak. In fact…she hopped to her feet, feeling no trembling, no pain from her joints. She stretched and bent, testing the shockingly wide limits of her flexibility. It was like waking from a gentle, deep sleep without any of the grogginess that she had been expecting in the back of her head. As she balanced, she felt something broad yet light expand from her back.

She felt the muscles in her shoulders flex, drawing the tendons and ligaments that pulled something out to her sides. She tilted her head to take a look, and her eyes were greeted by patterns of brown on a soft silver tapestry, and when she reached out to feel the texture she realized she could feel her own touch. These were her wings. Four wings, actually, as she felt two smaller wings on her lower back, working in tandem with her larger top wings. She could move either, but when she moved one, it moved the other.

A small glimmer of glee sparked to life in her chest as she started to spread and retract them, her fingers tracing the folding patterns built into the intricate veins and fabric that made up her new appendages. So many new appendages! With her new muscles and nerves bright in her mind, she stood straight and flared out her mottled brown wings as far as she could. She could see her wings swing open behind her, her multifaceted eyes allowing her to watch all four. A smile grew on her face as she felt the ripple of air though the shelves playing with the membranes. Her smile quickly turned into a panicked grimace as a much larger gust came through, and she tipped firmly onto her ass.

Her ass, unfortunately, crashed into the bookcase behind her, which unfortunately caused the shelves to drop loose, the books crashing down around and over her with an enormous crash. As Vittea struggled to dig herself out of the bookalanche, she heard the worrying tap, tap of very sharp claws on the library floor. Three creatures, with long jagged tusks jutting from splintered maws and twisted, spindly limbs picking cautiously over the books that Vittea’s accident scattered. Their eyes, a mix of hungry red and wild, crackling blue, locked onto their prey, and she gulped.

As her growing fear stretched the moment they leaped forwards, her scared insect instincts took in some details. Their skin was covered with pursed, jagged stitches, skin and book leather trying to consume each other, locked in stasis. The feet on the ends of their spindly legs split diagonally, with three thick, stubby claws on each side spread wide to manage the flailing weight of the central body. The mouth was less of an intentional orifice and more of a convenient hole that razor sharp tusks burst through that it now used to feed. This very jagged maw was pointed directly at Vittea, and she had a wonderfully clear view of the viscera and saliva dripping onto the floor as it lunged towards her.

The squeal of the hungry monstrosities snapped Vittea out of her kairos moment and into action. There was no time to think, the creatures were almost upon her. With a flail of her arms and wings she flung as many books as she could lift towards them. The books did little to no damage. They did, however, disrupt the ferocious stampede, the bookboars feet knocked aside or slipping on the obstacles. Angry squeals erupted around her as the beasts slammed into the bookpile, and she leapt to her feet. She had to get away. Now.

Her wings flapped desperately to lift her into the air, but the new muscles weren’t cooperating. They were too new and too weak to support flight; she had to run. She tucked her wings tight against her back as her feet pounded against the wooden floor She knew she couldn’t just run straight, those fuckers were fast and she was fresh from the cocoon. She could feel her new tendons and muscles sliding together underneath her chitin, sore and screaming from the sudden activity. 

Don’t forget to stretch. 

As Vittea scrambled around the nearest bookcase she could hear the angry squeals get closer, her heartbeat rising every time she heard their talons scrape on the floor. She saw a bookcase tipped onto another in front of her to her right, and she bolted for it. She didn’t know what was on top of the shelves, but if it got her away from her pursuers she could care less. The shelves didn’t make reliable footholds, creaking and shifting in their slots, but they held enough for her to make it to the top, where her breath was promptly stolen.

Wherever she was…it was enormous. The labyrinth of bookshelves stretched on before her. There was a pattern to the madness, all of the lanes and paths circling around a gap in the center. Trees grew up above the shelving, their boughs weaving together and upwards, forming a grand wooden chandelier that held a gleaming crystal far above her head, twirling and glowing bright enough to light the entire realm. A crack in one of the facets resulted in a shard of darkness that moved with the crystal, creating a bizarre approximation of a day-night cycle. It was enormous, chaotic, and beautiful to Vittea. 

An unnervingly close growl rose the fuzz on the back of her neck. She felt her antennae prickle as they fed her information, and she frowned. She looked over her shoulder to see the boars clumsily clambering their way up the slanted shelf. They weren’t moving fast, their claws made for slashing, not climbing, but they were moving. She sighed. She couldn’t afford to stop and take in the sights. 

There was a path ahead of her, along the tops of the shelves towards the slowly moving dark sector. She hoped that they didn’t have night vision as she skittered along the rather narrow surface, her wings spread wide to help her maintain her balance. Her eyes gave her a full perspective of just how far she would fall if she stumbled, and it was both a terrifying distraction and incredible motivation to watch her steps. The hungry roaring behind her was another reminder that she could only care so much, and had to get her ass moving.

One of the myriad tree branches intersected with the line of shelves she was running across a couple hundred feet ahead of her, spiraling up into the mass of wood and leaves above her. If she could just reach that, maybe she had a chance. If the boars were already struggling here, she hoped dearly that they wouldn’t be able to follow her up into the canopy.

She ran as fast as she felt safe, wings outstretched and antennae on full alert for the creatures behind her. From what she could sense, they had finished their climb and were catching up worryingly fast. With each thud of her feet on wood she feared that she wouldn’t make it. The claws of the boars dug in as they thundered towards her, lacking any of the fear that hampered her speed. 

Her antennae fed her each horrid detail, their tentacle-like tongues lapping at their teeth in excitement, their long limbs grabbing the sides of the shelves and heaving their portly bodies forwards. Their food was so close, and they were so hungry. If she slowed, she would be devoured, and if she cast caution to the wind she would likely find herself cast off as well. Despite her efforts, though, she knew she was too slow. Her mind quietly calculated the remaining distance versus the approached predators behind her, and she felt her mind sink into dread.

Should she keep running, only to be caught and consumed? Should she throw herself off, hoping her fragile wings could hold her aloft? Should she turn and try to fight, though she knew she had nothing that could fend them off? All she could do was run, keep heaving one leg in front of the other, knowing it wouldn’t be enough, but trying despite that. 

As she felt the heat of the boar’s breath on the back of her neck, a shadow descended over them. She felt a strong gust of wind as something descended from above, and she braced for the end, hoping at least the pain would be swift. Instead, she was lifted up off the ground in strong, hardened limbs, and she heard one of the boars squeal in pain. She opened one eye and saw a long, pale spear impaling the beast against the top of the shelf. Its limbs flailed, unable to reach the spear and not strong enough to wrench itself loose. Vittea then looked up, and saw two large faceted eyes much like her own, with grand brown-silver wings spread, the twisting patterns on them resembling thousands more eyes, all glaring furiously at their prey.

The palps on either side of the giant moth’s mouth rubbed in concern, and it spoke with a booming but gentle voice.

“And who are you, little one?” 

kukilea

We are back! As usual, this is not beta read, comments/corrections/suggestions are welcome. Honestly I'm just relieved to finally be writing and publishing again. As stated in the notice, all chapters from the first version of the story will be available in one condensed chapter. Hope you all enjoy!