Chapter 10: Metamorphosis
Something was stirring within the huge cocoon hanging high from a great oak tree. The time for it to hatch was nigh.
Drifting closer and closer from the land of dreams it was awaking.
“Wha- where am I? Why’s it so dark?”
Not quite fully awake yet, Alicia’s mind was still foggy and disoriented.
“Am I in some creature’s stomach?” Startled by their own imagination ‘he’ started to panic and started to thrash wildly. Although the pupa was considerably durable, from the inside it was soft and fragile. Easily being torn and ripped by ‘his’ reckless movement, it’s structural integrity was failing. Eventually as ‘he’ fought ‘his’ way through, the webbing gave way and finally snapped.
“Huh?”
And ‘he’ plunged into the ground face first.
‘He’ got up, hands clutching ‘his’ head in pain.
- “Ow ow ow, my head is killing me. Ow…”
Coming to, eyes focusing on ‘his’…
- “Hands...? Hands! I have hands!”
Shocked by a girl’s voice coming from who knows where ‘he’ started to look around.
- “Who’s that?”
As ‘his’ mind cleared up and finally finished processing the situation. ‘He’ understood the voice of the ‘girl’ was ‘his’ own.
- “This is weird…”
Still ‘his’ voice was a minor detail compared to the joy of having regained arms and legs. Though the legs felt a bit off.
Feeling ‘his’ face;
- “Wow, this skin is soft…”
‘He’ noticed that ‘he’ had silky platinum hair with subtle waviness that hung freely from ‘his’ head, reaching down to ‘his’ waist. It was then ‘he’ also found that ‘he’ had extra ‘tissue’ on ‘his’ bust, but what had ‘his’ attention was what was underneath. A shrill scream echoed through the forest.
Huge fangs covering a mouth. And following it down, it was connected ‘his’ body, meaning it was a part of ‘him’. And true enough when ‘he’ tried to, it moved the way ‘he’ wanted it to. Still continuing to examine, ‘his’ body was held up by thin legs of a spider. All connected to a bulbous abdomen. ‘He’ was connected by ‘his’ waist to where a spider’s cephalothorax should be. The scream was only partly because ‘he’ was scared of ‘his’ new form; other factors played into it of course, but none was as impactful as ‘him’ seeing that ‘he’ was in a birthday suit - with an ‘undeniable’ proof of a female.
After spending some time looking around in paranoia and calming down while later, she remembered her dream or what felt like a dream. It was deep into the night.
“I need to cover myself. I mean I don’t think there’s anyone here that’d care if I was nude or not, but still I would rather not go around streaking. Especially now that I have… feminine parts… and the wind is very caressing without clothes, maybe a bit too much for my comfort. I always thought that it was unusual for a male to have the name Alicia - dominantly feminine name… I think I now know why… Gods why have you forsaken me?
Still, where am I going to find clothes...?”
Looking around there were only torn silky webbing all around the place, remnants from the cocoon.
- “These will do… Actually, I can just make one for myself… Is what I'd like to say, but my spinnerette is in quite an unfortunate place, and I don’t have needles to use my silk with.
“And my sewing skill are is subpar at best; The last time I tried to was when I was a kid and grandma taught me how to crochet and sew things when I broke my leg.”
- “Seems less probable the more I think about it… What else can I do...”
While she was in thought something reached out to her.
- “...help…?”
- “Wh- Alice? Was that you? You can talk to me now?”
- “...can? ...can!”
Even with her odd intonation she could tell Alice was happy.
- “...do...help…?”
- “Do I need help? Ah, I was thinking about making some clothes, at least a wrap or a shirt, but I don’t I think I can.”
- “carapace...skin...?”
- “An attire, I mean you could say they’re carapace humans use. Do you think you can help?”
- “know… it… can… do...”
- “Then, if you will that would be helpful.”
- “mmh...”
After Alice’s answer her body - more specifically her lower body - started move as if it had a will of its own. It didn’t feel intrusive or uncomfortable. It moved as if from muscle memory, movements familiar and smooth. She hung upside down from the oak tree with a thread after effortlessly climbing up and started to weave with her silk. Like fingers of a trained musician strumming a stringed instrument she deftly used her spindly legs as needle, her silk as a thread, and her mouth with vicious fangs as scissors to cut and sometimes eat and recycle the silk from the cocoon, not wasting a shred.
After a while a loose fitting, white, fluttery shirt was crafted from silk. Alicia wondered how she managed to stay upside down for so long without the blood pooling to her head. After it was done Alicia noticed it’s design was the same as what her younger sister used to wear at home. It wasn’t the durable PPE that she was comfortable with, but…
- “Better than flashing someone. Thank you, Alice.”
Though no affirmation, she felt some subtle tingly feeling from the inside.
- “Guess she’s happy…
Dawn is still a ways off… so what happened…”
“Ah… I think I need more than a morning to figure this out.”
“How do I make underwear for spiders…? These things were not taught to me in The Principles of Design courses…”