Chrysalis
It was coming.
I could neither see nor hear it, but I knew it was approaching. Slowly, deliberately, it was coming. For me.
I waited, suspended and bound in a prison of my own making.
I shivered.
I had been careful. I had been conscientious. My home would be strong, my armor fearsome to my enemies. I climbed inside, entering a state of deep peace. I felt neither hunger nor thirst.
I thought I was safe.
But then…
Something started happening to me, and even by the end of that first day, and I struggled against my golden bonds. No use! I had constructed the walls to be foolproof, even against a fool like me.
It was coming. Exactly what, I did not know, but something terrible and awesome and powerful.
I heard birds chattering above me. “Freak!” they cawed. “Monster!”
Monster? What kind of monster? My heart beat a little more quickly, imagining the horrors outside. I shifted my body a bit and made a rude noise. If there was a monster nearby, I would do my damnedest not to allow it into this sanctum.
As I moved about, though, I got a brief glimpse of my body. My legs were no longer smooth, but hairy…and there were fewer of them! I was colored differently, too: what once was…
