As soon as the tub is filled I don't waste any time and just a moment later I am soaking in the water.
It's comforting to get your head free like this.
The best for my mentality is just to forget about all the troubling stuff and calm down.
The bubbles have a soothing touch.
I let my mind drift a bit along with the sound of their plopping.

 

This is kinda nice.
No monsters.
No other worlds.
No ghosts.
No terrifying changes.
And no eyes.

 

"Plop"

 

Eyes?
W-why did I just think about the eyes?
And why is my vision so strangely all over the place in this room?

 

"Plop"

 

Uhh, n-n-no!
Don't look!
You know what you will find if you direct your focus there!
Yet denying everything won't work forever.
Preparing my mind for the worst I cautiously take a glimpse down.

 

"Yep, it's the worst!" (I)

 

All the water became a black ink-like liquid! It is impossible to even look a bit into the current.
What is even worse, on the surface eyes are building up.
The foam already dissipated and was replaced by thousands of eyes, growing, inflating, and then plopping.

 

"Plop"

 

Uargh! I barely can keep it in.
This is nightmarish!
I'm tearing up and panic overwhelms me.

What shall I do?
First, maybe out of the tub?
But what if this stuff then does something on its own?
Zika said it's dangerous!

 

W-wait! Zika!!
I need help! And I need it now!
I put the strongest mental image possible in my head and start.

 

"Zika! Zika! Zika!" (I)

 

Please work!

.
.
.

"What by all the great ones!!!" (Z)

 

Agitated, annoyed, and angry!
Yes!!!

She looks half confused around her.

 

"H-help me!" (I)

 

Directly her gaze focuses on me.

 

"You?! I am not ticking like this! To call me while you soak naked in the bath! At least not anymore and surely not with your kind! And what is with this tub?" (Z)

"Please! Help me!" (I)

"Great ones! What have you done again?" (Z)

"I-I don't know! The tub was suddenly like this! Please, I don't know what to do and if mum finds out..." (I)

"Alright, too much information! You apparently released far too much nightmare essence." (Z)

"What shall I do? I cannot release it into the drainage, right?" (I)

"Are you kidding? Only if you want to drown this city in chaos. Or worse: You!" (Z)

"Then what?" (I)

"Either you suck it back in or you open a gateway and dump it into another unsuspecting world." (Z)

"I can't do this!" (I)

"Then it seems everyone on this island is doomed. Excuse me, but I need to find a place far away from here." (Z)

"Okay! Okay! How do I do this?" (I)

"Remember. How did you absorb things the other times?" (Z)

"I don't know! It simply happens, automatic! I have no control!" (I)

"Fine! It seems we have to start with the basics. Begin to concentrate on your body and try to take control, so that you can force it to open up." (Z)

"I-I don't like this feeling. This wriggling and entering in me. It's creepy!" (I)

"By all the realms! Get a hold on yourself! It's your body so don't leave the control to others!" (Z)

"B-but..." (I)

"No "buts"! I don't want to get devoured because you don't like the feeling to it!" (I)

"Since when are you this bold?" (I)

"Since you are going to rip me away from wherever I am by utilizing my name to your convenience! And this without having the slightest idea what this means for me!" (Z)

 

Okay, maybe I was a little invasive, but I really needed help.

 

"So, would you kindly take control over your body before it is going to eradicate everyone but you?" (Z)

"And how?" (I)

"Be self-aware! It's yours! You just need to will it, the same as you shapeshifting and such. Not too difficult!" (Z)

 

Before this demon is losing it I try to follow her orders.
Concentrating on my soaking body I try to focus on opening up.
Immediately spasms are running all over me.
In seconds, everywhere tentacles sprout out, leading my eyes to get teary as creeped out as I am.

A moment later the black current around me perceptible starts to float my insides.
I notice how it flows in some endless expanse that apparently lies inside me.
And this is terrifying on its own.
What lies beyond there?
At this speed, it takes mere moments and only I remain in the tub.
The current is gone.

To my dismay, I am in my monster appearance.
Naturally, I try immediately to turn back.
While I can feel a shift it stops before anything happens.
I couldn't push the change through.

 

"Z-Zika! I cannot change back!" (I)

"You are just too stirred to make this happen. As soon you calm down it will be no problem. Just don't force things." (Z)

"But-but what if mother comes in?" (I)

"Ah, yes! You haven't told her yet, right?" (Z)

"How? I just woke up like this and was terrified! I simply had no way to explain to my mother why her girl is now some kind of monster!" (I)

"Fine. But you are aware that this might become complicated in the long run? Alone the small critters which might escape from your mind." (Z)

"I don't know! It's just not this simple! I am afraid of talking to her! And I don't even want to think about this!" (I)

"So instead you prefer for consolement the demon you came to know this morning? I might not be the right one to tell you but you aren't the best judge of character." (Z)

"I'm scared, you know? This is all too much for me!" (I)

"Yes, and that's exactly the point! I am not the right one to talk to about your problems. I feed on negative emotions and my specialty is to pull the worst out of someone and feast on that. Yet if you feel bad we all might die. Or would wish we could." (Z)

"I feel the whole time bad!!! As if I had a single positive moment since then!" (I)

"Panic, disheartenment, confusion, anger?" (Z)

"Yes! This is it!" (I)

"This is nothing!!! We aren't even close to crisis, depression, despair, fury!!! Don't believe to know how dark feelings can turn to be! And don't believe to know what will happen! I have seen it! And even I, blooming in the darkest of times, wish for no repetition!" (Z)

"And what shall I do?!" (I)

"Find some consolement. A place of stability. That would bring us over the first time. Maybe you will eventually grow more stable." (Z)

"I said I cannot involve my mother..." (I)

 

"Iori! Everything alright? I thought I heard voices? Shall I come in?" (S)

 

Mum? Oh my god, we were too loud!
And I still look like this!

 

"N-no! I-it's alright!" (I)

 

Please go away!
Please go away!
Please go away!

 

"Are you sure? You don't sound that way!" (S)

 

Oh god! What shall I do?

 

"No r-really not! It would be embarrassing! Just go away!" (I)

"Iori Nomia! Don't talk to me like that! Something's going on! I'm coming in!" (S)

 

No, no, no! Why does that happen to me?
Maybe Zika can...

Wh-why is Zika smiling like this?
It's stretching her whole face.
The negative emotions maybe?
N-no, what is she doing there?
She, she goes to the door! She wouldn't...

 

"Don't summon demons if you aren't willing to pay the price." (Z)

 

This smile proves she is a demon.
And like this, she opens the door.

 

"Wh-who are..." (S)

"Snap"

 

A flick of Zika's finger is enough and mother is quiet.
I am too panicked to think straight.

 

"Good evening, Ms. Nomia. I apologize for this little invasive act of mine yet I had to make sure I would be listened to. To keep it short: Your daughter was at the wrong place at the wrong time and has transformed, in easy terms, into some kind of demonic goddess. Yes I know, that might sound farfetched and ridiculous yet it is indeed the truth. Her present bodily condition, which she is unable to change at the moment, should be proof enough. Sadly just her body and not her mind changed. As such I would advise that you as her mother should ensure she doesn't start to cry, which could lead to an uncountable amount of casualties. She is right now at an all-time low. Being a mother you surely know how difficult it can be for a girl of this age to get confronted with such drastic bodily changes. I would suggest treating the situation like this. As an apology for intruding into your home in such a rude manner, I will put a little charm on you which will support your mental stability. You wouldn't be the first to lose your mind at encountering such an entity." (Z)

"Snap"

"In any case, I believe a mother-daughter talk is recommended now. As such I will take my leave, for my presence would only be detrimental. Good night, Ms. Nomia!" (Z)

 

With these words, she walks past mother and stops at the center of our living room.
For a moment I believe to see flames below her.
Then she sinks away and is like this gone.
I guess we have now the imprint of a magic circle there.

Mother looks at a loss at the place where Zika just vanished.
She must question her mind right now, yet this circle is difficult to deny.
This circle remains.

And me!
I'm still here!
She will see me!!!

What shall I do?
What shall I do?
This is too much!

Maybe I could just vanish.
Hiding me at a faraway place.
But how would that help?
She would still know what happened here.
If I go now I could never come back.

 

"I-Iori? Are you in there?" (S)

 

No!
No this can't be happening!
I don't want to leave!
But I also don't want her to see me!

Instantly the light flashes out in the bathroom.

 

"What..." (S)

"Don't come in!" (I)

 

Now tentacles are sprouting out of me.
Rapidly growing and soon blocking the entrance

 

"Iori?!" (S)

"Don't come in! Don't come in! Please!" (I)

"Please let me in!" (S)

 

I feel how she grabs at them, trying to move the doorway free.
Yet she has no chance against this nightmarish materialization.

 

"I don't want you to see me!" (I)

 

The tentacles tighten up yet I need to tell them not to do anything to my mother.

 

"IORI NOMIA! YOU ARE OPENING THIS UP! NOW!!!" (S)

"Ieeeehk!" (I)

 

I lose for a moment any thought and will to close up.
God, I have never experienced her this agitated!
She is really angry right now!
However, the remaining tentacles should still lock this room off.

"Wham"

 

Did she just... break through with a chair?

 

"God, are these things resilient!" (S)

 

She got in!

 

"And now let's see!" (S)

 

At this, I crouch together, still in the tub.
Immediately a cover of some kind of flesh and other more sinister stuff encases me.
I still can see with some eyes on the surface.
Mother stands directly in front of my shell!

 

"Fine! Iori! If you're not going to open this now I will go to the kitchen, grab a knife, and peel you out there! And this will surely not better my mood. So, OPEN UP!!!" (S)

 

I've lost all will.
The tension on the shell wavers.
At this moment mum clamps between the sides and with a strength I wouldn't have expected her to have, spreads them open.
All I can do is to still cover me with my hands.

 

"Iori! I-is this you?" (S)

"Hick!" (I)

 

I only can sob and this shaking won't stop, while this black ink keeps flowing down.

 

"O-okay; Talk when you're ready! I'll keep waiting!" (S)

"M-mum!" (I)

"It's... It's alright. I can cope. Strangely I feel completely calm, not even fastened pulse." (S)

"Sorry. I'm so sorry! Hick! Please forgive me! Hick!" (I)

"Fine! It's fine! You are just looking a little unusual." (S)

 

I can feel her touch on my shoulder.
The whole stuff already separated from me when I gave my control away.
Yet then I get startled.
Mother grips down me and pulls me upright.

 

"Sorry, but I would like to change locations. This room creeps me out." (S)

 

A little bit pressing she drives me in the living room and puts me on the couch.
The tail is just slender enough to not hinder me too much in sitting down.
Mother settles on a chair close to the table and starts to rub her head.

 

"Seems like there is a lot to talk about. So we should get started." (S)

 

The simple thought makes me panic.