CHAPTER 3: AWAKENINGS

Consciousness returned slowly, like wading through honey.

First came the awareness of her own body—or rather, the strange disconnection from it. Elara felt like she was floating slightly above herself, observing rather than inhabiting.

Next came sound—a rhythmic clicking, like someone rapidly tapping fingernails against glass. Underneath that, a low hum that seemed to vibrate through her bones.

Then smell—that same cinnamon-copper scent, stronger now, mixed with something medicinal.

Finally, painfully, vision. Her eyelids felt heavy, resistant, but she forced them open.

She was in... a cocoon? A translucent membrane surrounded her, distorting her view of whatever lay beyond. Her body was suspended in a thick, pinkish fluid that should have made breathing impossible, yet somehow she was managing it.

Through the membrane, she could make out shapes moving—angular, insectile shapes that clicked and chittered as they passed. She was in some kind of chamber, its walls organic rather than constructed, pulsing with an internal light that shifted between purple and green.

*Don't panic*, she told herself. *Observe. Analyze. Like a lab specimen. Like cells under a microscope.*

She tried to move her hands and found that she could, though the fluid created resistance. Looking down at her body, she saw that she was naked, but something was wrong. Her skin...

Her skin was changing.

Patches of it had taken on a faint pink hue, hardening into something that resembled the exoskeletons of the creatures outside her cocoon. The transformation was most advanced on her arms and legs, creeping inward from her extremities.

A sound escaped her—something between a scream and a sob—but it came out distorted, bubbling through the fluid.

The movement outside stopped. A figure approached her cocoon, its outline resolving into one of the insect-like beings. It was larger than the ones she'd seen at the college, its exoskeleton a deep, royal blue with gold markings. It placed what might have been a hand against the membrane separating them.

*Consciousness achieved. Earlier than anticipated. Impressive.*

The voice was in her head again. Not heard, but felt—like the concept of the words were being downloaded directly into her mind.

"What are you doing to me?" Elara tried to say, but her mouth filled with the pinkish fluid. Instead, she thought the words as forcefully as she could, directing them at the creature.

*Symbiosis. Transformation. Gift.*

"I don't want your gift!"

*Not our gift. The Seedling's gift. We are merely the gardeners.*

None of this made sense. Elara's scientific mind scrambled for purchase, for some framework to understand what was happening. Symbiosis—a relationship between two different organisms living in close physical association. Transformation—a change in form, appearance, or structure.

She was being changed. From human to... what?

*You are becoming the bridge. The Seedling chose you for compatibility. Your genetic structure is... optimal.*

"The Seedling? What is that?"

In response, the creature moved aside, revealing another being approaching the cocoon. This one was different—smaller, its exoskeleton a pale, translucent pink that Elara realized with horror matched the emerging patches on her own skin. Its movements seemed less certain, almost newborn.

It placed a limb against the cocoon membrane, and Elara felt something stir within her—not physically, but mentally. A presence. A consciousness brushing against her own.

*Hello, host-sister,* came a new voice, higher and less certain than the first. *We are becoming we.*

And then Elara understood. The Seedling wasn't transforming her.

It was merging with her.

The realization was too much. Darkness crept in from the edges of her vision, consciousness slipping away again. The last thing she saw was the pink creature tilting its head in what might have been concern.

*Rest now, host-sister. The becoming is only beginning.*