Evolution
Alesha was fuming inside. All of the stress from trying to deal with the System, all of the lingering, unprocessed fear from the attack two months ago, all of the frustration from having to hide what had happened to her from her family, and the confusion of trying to adapt to the fact that her school (her future, really) had literally been wiped off the face of Elantris -- it was all roiling inside her. Why had this happened to her? What awful thing had she done to incur the wrath of whatever deity was in charge of her life? She had been living a normal student life, pursuing ambitious but attainable goals, perhaps not paying as much attention to her friends and family as she should have, but not doing anything in particular to make a deity angry!
So overwhelmed with emotion she forgot about her siblings nearby, she yelled aloud, "Why?! Why me?! Why did you gi--"
Her voice cut off mid-sentence. Having been about to scream loudly her anger at being given the System, her body choked, stopping her from vocalizing those thoughts and thereby exposing the System's existence.
Tears started streaming down her face as her anger blended with sadness. "So even when the System won't talk to me, it won't let me say it," she whispered ruefully.
She rested her face in her hands and let the tears flow.
----
Outside the door, Dennis clung to Layla as they tried to listen in. What had Alesha been yelling about? And why?
Dennis moved to grab the doorknob. Grabbing his shoulders, Layla stopped him. "Sorry Dennis," she whispered, "I think she wants to be alone. Why don't you give her a big hug tomorrow? I bet she'd love it then."
Looking with worried eyes at Alesha's door, he relented. "Okay," he said, and returned to his room without another word. His door shut with a soft click.
Layla wondered if she should see if Dennis himself was alright. They'd separately come to Alesha's door when she yelled, and she hadn't talked with him since Alesha's seizure. It must have scared him to see her like that.
Her phone rang from her room and she hesitated. Well… he'd probably be fine.
----
What Alesha had failed to notice earlier was that when she had selected the
It was a loading icon.
About a minute later, more notifications arrived.
[+1 Chaos Energy]
[Warning! Warning! Chaos Energy beyond maximum capacity. Emergency release will commence in 3, 2…]
[Overridden: Evolution loading…]
[Evolution loading…]
[Evolution will now commence. Your options are…]
[Overridden: Evolution path chosen. Evolution loading…]
[Evolution will now commence.]
"What's happening?" Alesha asked, tears blurring her vision as she blinked to try and read the list of notifications.
Before she could clear her eyes enough to do so, an icy shock hit the base of her neck with great force, causing her to gasp in pain and surprise.
A burning cold raced through her nervous system. The sensation was so overwhelmingly cold and hot at the same time that she instantly lost consciousness, falling backwards onto her bed to lay flat.
Pulsating veins of plasma spread out across the surface of her body, white and glowing with an ever-shifting array of every color on the color wheel. These grew rapidly. Soon, her entire body and some of the bed was entirely overgrown with overlapping, intertwining roots of solid light, the swirling spectrum of colorful radiation casting a fast-paced hypnotic lightshow throughout the room. This continued for several hours. Then, the pace of the dancing glows slowed, coming to a stop and the glowing cocoon ceased shedding light entirely.
What was left was the form of a human, shrouded in brittle white roots, the sheen and texture of which were similar to that of an eggshell.
[Evolution complete]
----
After leaving Alesha's door at Layla's insistence, Dennis leaned up against the inside of his own. Truthfully, he had been worried about his oldest sister's seizure, but he had more pressing questions to ask than ones about her well-being. He was afraid to do so now, though. Especially after Layla's asking him to give Alesha some space.
What had that strange light been, the stuff that had come out of her and went into him? And was it responsible for how sick he felt right now?
He felt hot and feverish, like his body was having an adverse reaction to the substance. His hands were trembling. He felt dizzy and nauseous, his skin was itchy, and he was overwhelmingly tired for some reason. All of this led him to the conclusion that he really needed to know what was going on, and based on Alesha's insistence on being left alone, he was sure it was connected to her somehow. Could she possibly know what was happening to him? Would she have answers?
Clutching his stomach, he stumbled to his bed to lay down. Hopefully whatever this was would pass soon. Or, at least, hopefully Alesha would come to check on him soon.
Because he no longer had the strength to stay awake and ask about it.