The Beginning

The old man looked on as a girl around twelve years old got off the car.

'She has truly grown up, from a girl as tall as my waist, to who she is now, her height as tall as my chest,' he thought, nostalgic.

How time flows by so fast. For him and his memories, it was only just a short while ago that Anna was only four years old. For her, it was for eight whole years.

The ghost of an old man exhaled tiredly, like the air leaving through a hole from a balloon. Life continues to go on, even if it changes a person's life for the worse.

As he watched them nearby, he saw his now older nephew getting a phone call. The nephew's face morphed through several different emotions before it stopped at a serious one. To the old man's shock, he gave his goodbyes to Anna quickly, leaving with his car half a minute later.

His granddaughter closed her eyes, sighing, and walked inside with the luggage and baggage. The old man's eyes followed her until she vanished into the house.

He couldn't believe it.

Although his nephew leaving will actually help him with his plans, that doesn't mean that he would prefer it to go that way.

It would be a few hours until the plan starts, so for just a little longer, the old man shall keep watch over her. Still, the old man was reeling over how much Anna has changed. To think she would grow from such a young child to a growing adolescent girl...

𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩.

The old man bowed his head phased through the wall of the house. The nostalgia can wait for now, for he must wait for the right opportunity to present itself to him.

...

Seeing that she was cleaning the house, the ghostly apparition of an old man double-checked to make sure the preparations are complete. The preparations are of the utmost importance, as they will determine whether or not he will continue existing in this world.

With the amount of mana in the air almost nonexistent, it was truly a tedious task to make preparations, but with the time he have and what he had found...

It should be just enough.

...

It was sunset, with the sky forming a beautiful shade of orange and purple. The ghost watched as he saw Anna step out of the house, and onto the backyard porch with her sketchbook and pencil. Then, she began to sketch. Watching her move her pencil, he unconsciously felt nostalgic. Even as a young child, Anna loved drawing, sketching butterflies and flowers.

While she began sketching, he finally began to weave his magic.

A magic special to him. Magic feared by the denizens of the world almost a thousand years ago.

Dream magic.

One of the most difficult and highest tier magic in the world of Palamicia. Of course, the top-tier magic usually has high magic usage, but my affinity is said to be the highest in the world.

'There's a reason why I am one of the Ca-' the ghost stopped his line of thought. He then began concentrating.

'...'

For the lowest spells of dream magic to work, he must make his granddaughter fall into a state of slumber. Fortunately, with Anna's guard down, it would be simple.

Then, he opened his eyes, and the tiniest of a blue glow extended from my body.

Slowly, using the tiniest bit of magic, the ghost gently gave her mind a 'suggestion.' The mana followed his will, and shaped into a spell with meaning. It was a suggestion to be tired while she was sketching. With that, he slowly lulled her into a quiet slumber, given the state her mind and body is in.

Then, he began the second phase. Floating over to her, he gently placed his hands upon her head. Although he couldn't feel anything, he still began channeling the pitiful amounts of mana he had left and used another spell.

'With her untrained brain, shaping her dreams would also be simple...'

Why? Because it can also influence the mind and reality of the world. Unlike illusion magic, the highest spells of dreams can even bring the dreams themselves into reality...

That is why he was so feared back then when his dream magic forcefully bent the rules of the world. All beings like him can do so, but he was the most...versatile.

Still, casting the weakest and simplest of dream magic is effortless and unchallenging. It was the mana cost that was the problem.

It was a good thing she also has no resistance against magic.

The old man frowned at the thought. He really needs to start training her really soon. The times were changing, and especially with a being like himself, it was startlingly obvious.

The spell slowly made its way inside Anna's dream, and without further adieu, the dream manipulation began.

...

In the dream, he pretended he was a butterfly, guiding her through the forest. It was the same forest he had scouted a few days ago. Then, he showed her the butterflies.

The butterflies.

The butterflies that I took care of years ago escaped into the forest, and they had somehow thrived there for many years. However, they weren't able to survive, due to natural causes and predators. The last butterflies only laid one egg before dying.

It was that egg he had found on the wilting flower, and so he adjusted the dream to make Anna see it. Eventually, Anna will come to pick it up.

Furthermore, inside the egg, the larvae were still being formed, meaning it was still mindless. The perfect state for him to transfer himself into a vessel.

Yes, this ghost of an old man intends to become a caterpillar.

Not because that was the only option, but because it's one of the easiest options to choose. A mindless larvae can easily be taken over by someone as weak as him.

When he fuses himself with the caterpillar, he'll be surely defenseless in the egg and as a caterpillar. He'll be depending on Anna, who he's sure will take care of him.

And that's what she will do.

'She's a good child, that one,' the old man smiled proudly as he watched Anna walk back inside the house, looking slightly disoriented.

...

After using another dream for the second time, morning arrived, and Anna came to grab the caterpillar.

As soon as she made it home with the egg and made a cardboard house, she placed the egg inside.

The old man watched over her shoulder's as the final touches were complete. Now, it is finally time to begin fusing with the larvae inside it.

Floating over the egg, he slowly condensed and minimized himself until he was about the same size as the egg. Then he slowly floated into it, gradually fusing with the mindless larvae.

It was as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less.

Normally souls and resentful spirits simply can't just take over a living organism, but exceptional beings with knowledge and power like himself...

Let's just say that they have an easier time doing so.

Still it took the ghost a while to truly fuse, but now that he has done so, he can barely feel a strand of his former power. Even when he was a ghost, he still had a minuscule amount, and now...

Now, he was utterly powerless, with his fate in the hands of my granddaughter.

Of course, the Lord Almighty will surely have a hand in it. He always does.

'I expected it when I chose to become a caterpillar, but I never thought I would one day feel as powerless as I am right now once again.'

Like always, he must endure patiently. For Anna, and for himself.

In his previous self's memories, a caterpillar only eats, poops, shed its skin, and eats. A cycle of eating, pooping, and shedding. The caterpillar will continue this cycle until it is an adult, big enough to wrap itself into a cocoon. Then, it shall begin the process of morphing into a butterfly.

A simple life, but one he will also enjoy immensely. Just sitting in the one same spot, food being delivered to him, sleeping at that one same spot, pooping at the one same spot...

'...'

After all, he has been through, the simple, lazy life will indeed be worth experiencing...

It would also be a new experience, being reborn as a bug.

Then, as he had ended the process of fusing with it, he felt all his senses disappear, placing him in darkness.

...

It was dark. Well, of course, it was dark. At the thought, a feeling of deja vu swept over him.

Of course, the old man now-turned-larvae should've expected that, as he can pretty much assume he's inside the egg.

The process of hatching a caterpillar egg is will be a new experience. A strange one, but a new one nonetheless. He can personally say that he had never hatched from an egg. he can't even wriggle at all-

All of a sudden, he felt something. The texture was difficult to really explain, it wasn't fleshy or anything, but it was...strangely firm. Picture a warm blanket surrounding someone. The person tries to wriggle, but the blanket was holding the person in place, protecting the person.

Embracing the person.

'...'

Now, it was time for the person to eat the blanket.

Then the larva began trying to break free. How does a caterpillar normally start breaking free? Why does it start by eating the egg from the inside. Chewing it little by little, he began to taste a slightly bitter, yet chewy substance. It wasn't unpleasant at all.

He calmly kept trying to chew, but then exhaustion abruptly came down on him. He stopped, tired.

'...'

It looks like it'll be a while until he breaks free.

...

Time goes on as the larvae with a mind attempt to chew himself free from his egg-like cage. Each period of time he chewed to break free, the egg gave way, letting a tiny light filter in through the darkness. He can still barely make out anything, but seeing something within the darkness after a long period of being in it was once again strangely exhilarating.

That gave him the energy to keep chewing out, only to fall exhausted once more.

Once again, being in the darkness without being able to do anything, the larvae began to think. He had been keeping track of time, and it seems like it has been mere hours since he had begun to break free. One would assume a person becomes bored from the rinse and repeat the act of breaking free.

Unfortunately, his gift and curse remain with him for life.

The larvae stopped.

'Is cursing myself really the best thing to do right now?'

He ignored the question and kept chewing.

...

It had already been at least a couple of hours, and whatever was keeping him caged has almost been broken.

He chewed calmly. He sometimes chewed serenely. Rarely, he sometimes chewed ferociously. Every bit by hit helps, and now, his efforts had finally paid off.

Gathering as much stamina as he can from rest, the larva finally chewed enough to create an opening.

What appeared in his blurry sight was the same cardboard home Anna made for him earlier.

With his blurry vision, all he saw was mostly just darkness, save for the small amount of light filtering in through the net, shining from a corner.

The caterpillar wriggled around, looking to the left, and then to the right.

It was a strange sensation. It feels utterly surreal, to see this box from two different perceptions. Once this box was small to his eyes, and now it became tall walls locking him in from all sides.

The caterpillar wriggled his head. The time for thinking was mostly over. Now, it's time he began testing to see whether or not the hypothesis was correct. Since he had merged with an actual living body birthed in this world...

He looked around cautiously, seeing only milkweed leaves and the egg he broke out of.

After making sure that it was actually safe, the caterpillar then thought of the word in his head. He knew for sure, that this time it would work.

'𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴.'

The caterpillar was correct.